MT(1)

NAME
mt - magnetic tape control

SYNOPSIS
mt [ -f tapename ] command [ count ]

DESCRIPTION

mt sends commands to a magnetic tape drive. If tapename is not specified, the environment variable TAPE is used. If TAPE does not exist, mt uses the device /dev/rmt12. tapename refers to a raw tape device. By default, mt performs the requested operation once; multiple operations may be performed by specifying count.

The available commands are listed below. Only as many characters as are required to uniquely identify a command need be specified.

mt returns a 0 exit status when the operation(s) were successful, 1 if the command was unrecognized or if mt was unable to open the specified tape drive, and 2 if an operation failed.

OPTIONS

eof, weof
    Write count EOF marks at the current position on the tape.

fsf Forward space over count EOF marks. The tape is positioned on the first block of the file.

fsr Forward space count records.

bsf Back space over count EOF marks. The tape is positioned on the beginning-of-tape side of the EOF mark.

bsr Back space count records.

nbsf
    Back space count files. The tape is positioned on the first block of the file. This is equivalent to count+1 bsf's followed by one fsf.

asf Absolute space to count file number. This is equivalent to a rewind followed by a fsf count.

For the following commands, count is ignored:

eom Space to the end of recorded media on the tape. This is useful for appending files onto previously written tapes.

rewind
    Rewind the tape.

offline, rewoffl
    Rewind the tape and, if appropriate, take the drive unit off-line by unloading the tape.

status
    Print status information about the tape unit.

retension
    Rewind the cartridge tape completely, then wind it forward to the end of the reel and back to beginning-of-tape to smooth out tape tension.

erase
    Erase the entire tape.

FILES
/dev/rmt*
    magnetic tape interface
/dev/rar*
    Archive cartridge tape interface
/dev/rst*
    SCSI tape interface

SEE ALSO
ar(4S), mtio(4), st(4S), tm(4S), xt(4S) environ(5V)

BUGS

Not all devices support all options. Some options are hardware-dependent. Refer to the corresponding device manual page.

WARNINGS

The bsf option for SCSI tape in SunOS 4.0.3 is incompatible with this release and releases prior to 4.0.3.