mt(1)
NAME
mt - control magnetic tape drive operation
SYNOPSIS
mt [-V] [-f device] [--file=device] [--rsh-command=command] [--version] operation [count]
DESCRIPTION
This manual page documents the GNU version of mt. mt performs the
given operation, which must be one of the tape operations listed below,
on a tape drive.
The default tape device to operate on is taken from the file
/usr/include/sys/mtio.h when mt is compiled. It can be overridden by
giving a device file name in the environment variable TAPE or by a command line option (see below), which also overrides the environment
variable.
The device must be either a character special file or a remote tape
drive. To use a tape drive on another machine as the archive, use a
filename that starts with `HOSTNAME:'. The hostname can be preceded by
a username and an `@' to access the remote tape drive as that user, if
you have permission to do so (typically an entry in that user's
`~/.rhosts' file).
The available operations are listed below. Unique abbreviations are
accepted. Not all operations are available on all systems, or work on
all types of tape drives. Some operations optionally take a repeat
count, which can be given after the operation name and defaults to 1.
- eof, weof
- Write count EOF marks at current position.
- fsf Forward space count files. The tape is positioned on the first
- block of the next file.
- bsf 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.
- bsfm Backward space count file marks. The tape is positioned on the
- beginning-of-the-tape side of the file mark.
- fsfm Forward space count file marks. The tape is positioned on the
- beginning-of-the-tape side of the file mark.
- asf Absolute space to file number count. Equivalent to rewind fol
- lowed by fsf count.
- seek Seek to block number count.
- eom Space to the end of the recorded media on the tape (for append
- ing files onto tapes).
- 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.
- erase Erase the tape.
- 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.
- OPTIONS
- -f, --file=device
Use device as the file name of the tape drive to operate on. To use a tape drive on another machine, use a filename that starts with `HOSTNAME:'. The hostname can be preceded by a username and an `@' to access the remote tape drive as that user, if you have permission to do so (typically an entry in that user's `~/.rhosts' file).
- --rsh-command=command
Notifies mt that it should use command to communicate with remote devices instead of /usr/bin/ssh or /usr/bin/rsh.
- -V, --version
Print the version number of mt.