NAME

mt − Magnetic tape manipulating program

SYNOPSIS

mt [−f tape_device] command [count]

The mt program gives commands to a magnetic tape drive. 

DESCRIPTION

If you do not specify a tape name with the −f flag, the TAPE environment variable is used; if TAPE does not exist, mt uses the /dev/rmt12 device.  Note that tape_device must refer to a raw (not block) tape device.  By default, mt performs the requested operation once.  Operations can be performed more than once by specifying count. 

The following commands are available:

eof, weof
Writes count End-of-File marks at the current position on the tape. 

fsfForward spaces count files. 

fsrForward spaces count records. 

bsfBackspaces count files. 

bsrBackspaces count records. 

rewindRewinds the tape (count is ignored). 

offline, rewoffl
Rewinds the tape and places the tape unit offline (count is ignored). 

onlineBring a SCSI tape to the ready state if a tape is in the tape path. Currently, this command is only supported in the SCSI/CAM tape driver. Not all SCSI tape drives support this functionality. 

seodSpace to end of recorded data. Currently, this command is only supported in the SCSI/CAM tape driver.  Not all SCSI tape drives support this functionality. 

statusPrints status information about the tape unit. 

Only as many characters as are required to uniquely identify a command need to be specified. 

FLAGS

−f tape_deviceSpecifies the tape device to be manipulated. 

RETURN VALUES

The mt command returns a 0 (zero) exit status when the operations were successful, a 1 if the command was unrecognized, and a 2 if the operation failed. 

FILES

/dev/rmt∗Raw magnetic tape interface. 

RELATED INFORMATION

Commands: dd(1). 

Functions: ioctl(2).