Click this button to go to the index for this section.

mt(1)
NAME
  mt - Magnetic tape manipulating program

SYNOPSIS
  mt [-f tape_device] command [count]

  The mt program gives commands to a magnetic tape drive.

OPTIONS
  -f tape_device
      Specifies the tape device to be manipulated.

DESCRIPTION
  If you do not specify a tape name with the -f option, the TAPE environment
  variable is used; if TAPE does not exist, mt uses the /dev/nrmt0h 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.

  fsf Forward spaces count files.

  fsr Forward spaces count records.

  bsf Backspaces count files.

  bsr Backspaces count records.

  rewind
      Rewinds the tape (count is ignored).

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

  unload
      Prepares a SCSI tape for removal from the device.	 Not all SCSI tape
      drives support this functionality.

  online
      Bring 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.

  seod
      Space 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.

  status
      Prints status information about the tape unit.

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

EXIT STATUS
  The mt command returns the following exit status:

  0 (Zero)
      Success.

  1   Command was unrecognized.

  2   Operation failed.

FILES
  /dev/nrmt*
      Raw magnetic tape interface with no rewind when closed.

  /dev/rmt*
      Raw magnetic tape interface with rewind when closed.

SEE ALSO
  Commands:  dd(1)

  Functions:  ioctl(2)