
MT(1L)                                                     MT(1L)

NAME
       mt - control magnetic tape drive operation

SYNOPSIS
       mt [-f device] operation [count]

DESCRIPTION
       This  manual  page  documents the tape control program mt.
       mt performs the given operation, which must be one of  the
       tape  operations  listed below, on a tape drive.  The path
       of the tape device to operate on can be given with the  -f
       or  -t  option.  If neither of those options is given, and
       the environment variable TAPE is set, it is used.   Other-
       wise,    a    default   device   defined   in   the   file
       /usr/include/sys/mtio.h is used.  The device must a  char-
       acter special file.

       Some  operations optionally take a repeat count, which can
       be given after the operation name and defaults to 1.

       The available operations are listed below.  Unique  abbre-
       viations  are  accepted.  Not all operations are available
       on all systems, or work on all types of tape drives.

       fsf    Forward space count files.  The tape is  positioned
              on the first block of the next file.

       fsfm   Forward  space count files.  The tape is positioned
              on the last block of the previous file.

       bsf    Backward space count files.  The tape is positioned
              on the last block of the previous file.

       bsfm   Backward space count files.  The tape is positioned
              on the first block of the next file.

       fsr    Forward space count records.

       bsr    Backward space count records.

       weof   Write count EOF marks at current position.

       rewind Rewind the tape.

       offline, rewoffl
              Rewind the tape  and,  if  applicable,  unload  the
              tape.

       status Print status information about the tape unit.

       retension
              Rewind  the  tape,  then  wind it to the end of the
              reel, then rewind it again.

                                                                1

MT(1L)                                                     MT(1L)

       eod, seod
              Space to end of valid data.  Used on streamer  tape
              drives to append data to the logical and of tape.

       erase  Erase the tape.

       setblk Set  the block size of the drive to count bytes per
              record.

       setdensity
              Set the tape density code  to  count.   The  proper
              codes  to  use  with each drive should be looked up
              from the drive documentation.

       seek   Seek to the count block on the tape.   This  opera-
              tion  is  available  on  some  Tandberg and Wangtek
              streamers and some SCSI-2 tape drives.

       tell   Tell the current block on tape.  This operation  is
              available  on  some  Tandberg and Wangtek streamers
              and some SCSI-2 tape drives.

       mt exits with a status of 0 if the operation succeeded,  1
       if the operation or device name given was invalid, or 2 if
       the operation failed.
