The mt utility sends commands to a magnetic tape drive. If -f tapename is not specified, the environment variable TAPE is used. If TAPE does not exist, mt uses the device /dev/rmt/0n.

The following option is supported:

-f tapename

Specifies the raw tape device.

The following operands are supported:

count

The number of times that the requested operation is to be performed. By default, mt performs command once. Multiple operations of command may be performed by specifying count.

command

Available commands that can be sent to a magnetic tape drive. Only as many characters as are required to uniquely identify a command need be specified.

eof, weof

Write count EOF marks at the current position on the tape.

fsf

Forward space over count EOF marks. The tape is positioned on the first block of the file.

fsr

Forward space count records.

bsf

Back space over count EOF marks. The tape is positioned on the beginning-of-tape side of the EOF mark.

bsr

Back space count records.

nbsf

Back space count files. The tape is positioned on the first block of the file. This is equivalent to count+1 bsf's followed by one fsf.

asf

Absolute space to count file number. This is equivalent to a rewind followed by a fsf count.

If count is specified with any of the following commands, the count is ignored and the command is performed only once.

eom

Space to the end of recorded media on the tape. This is useful for appending files onto previously written tapes.

rewind

Rewind the tape.

offline, rewoffl

Rewind the tape and, if appropriate, take the drive unit off-line by unloading the tape. It cycles through all four tapes.

status

Print status information about the tape unit.

retension

Rewind the cartridge tape completely, then wind it forward to the end of the reel and back to beginning-of-tape to smooth out tape tension.

reserve

Allow the tape drive to remain reserved after closing the device. The drive must then be explicitly released.

release

Re-establish the default behavior of releasing at close.

forcereserve

Break the reservation of the tape drive held by another host and then reserve the tape drive. This command can be executed only with super-user privileges.

erase

Erase the entire tape. Erasing a tape may take a long time depending on the device and/or tape. Refer to the device specific manual for time details.

0

All operations were successful.

1

Command was unrecognized or mt was unable to open the specified tape drive.

2

An operation failed.

/dev/rmt/*

magnetic tape interface

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

tar(1), tcopy(1), ar(3HEAD), environ(4), attributes(5), mtio( 7I), st(7D)

Not all devices support all options. Some options are hardware-dependent. Refer to the corresponding device manual page.

mt is architecture sensitive. Heterogeneous operation (that is, SPARC to IA or the reverse) is not supported.