tar: mt
1
1 9.5.2 The 'mt' Utility
1 ----------------------
1
1 _(This message will disappear, once this node revised.)_
1
1 ⇒Blocking Factor.
1
1 You can use the 'mt' utility to advance or rewind a tape past a
1 specified number of archive files on the tape. This will allow you to
1 move to the beginning of an archive before extracting or reading it, or
1 to the end of all the archives before writing a new one.
1
1 The syntax of the 'mt' command is:
1
1 mt [-f TAPENAME] OPERATION [NUMBER]
1
1 where TAPENAME is the name of the tape device, NUMBER is the number
1 of times an operation is performed (with a default of one), and
1 OPERATION is one of the following:
1
1 'eof'
1 'weof'
1 Writes NUMBER tape marks at the current position on the tape.
1
1 'fsf'
1 Moves tape position forward NUMBER files.
1
1 'bsf'
1 Moves tape position back NUMBER files.
1
1 'rewind'
1 Rewinds the tape. (Ignores NUMBER.)
1
1 'offline'
1 'rewoff1'
1 Rewinds the tape and takes the tape device off-line. (Ignores
1 NUMBER.)
1
1 'status'
1 Prints status information about the tape unit.
1
1 If you don't specify a TAPENAME, 'mt' uses the environment variable
1 'TAPE'; if 'TAPE' is not set, 'mt' will use the default device specified
1 in your 'sys/mtio.h' file ('DEFTAPE' variable). If this is not defined,
1 the program will display a descriptive error message and exit with code
1 1.
1
1 'mt' returns a 0 exit status when the operation(s) were successful, 1
1 if the command was unrecognized, and 2 if an operation failed.
1