NAME

mt - magnetic tape utility

SYNOPSIS

mt [-v] [-f device] command [count]

DESCRIPTION

The mt command performs certain control operations on tape devices. If no device is specified with the -f option and the TAPE environment is not set, the device /dev/rmt/c0s0n is used.

The command argument may be one of:

erase

Erase the entire tape.

rewind

Rewind the tape.

retension, ret

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

wfm, eof, weof

Write a file mark at the current position.

sfm, fsf

Seek past the next file mark.

bsf

Seek back over the previous file mark.

fsr

Seek forward to next record.

bsf

Seek backward to previous record.

enddata, append, feom

Seek past the end of written data.

offline, rewoffl

Rewind the tape and place the tape unit offline.

status

Report the status of the tape device.

The optional count argument specifies the number of blocks or records to seek, marks to be written, etc.

The -v option causes mt to report the status of the tape device.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

TAPE

Used as tape device if no device argument is given on the command line.