The DELETE GENERATION command removes information about one or more generations of an element. Once a generation is deleted, it cannot be restored to its former place in the element in the CMS library. You can, however, archive the contents of the generation using the /ARCHIVE qualifier and later restore the contents of the generation. If the generation or range of generations to be deleted has a direct descendant generation (that is, a descendant generation on the same line of descent), then the changes associated with those generations are combined, and then those changes are combined with the changes in the descendant generation. If there is no descendant generation, that is, the generation or range of generations to be deleted is at the end of the line of descent, then the changes associated with those generations are discarded. You can specify a single generation with the /GENERATION qualifier. /GENERATION=1+ is the default. You can also specify a range of generations with either the /AFTER or /FROM qualifier to delimit the beginning of a range, and either the /BEFORE or /TO qualifier to delimit the end of a range. These sets of qualifiers can be paired to specify ranges with inclusive or exclusive endpoints (see the restriction section). If you delete the latest generation on the main line of descent of an element that has the reference copy attribute, CMS deletes the generation's reference copy and creates a new reference copy that corresponds to the generation that is now the latest generation on the main line of descent.