mt(1)							      General Commands Manual							     mt(1)

NAME

       mt - magnetic tape manipulating program

SYNOPSIS

       tapename] command [count]

   Obsolescent
       tapename] command [count]

DESCRIPTION

       is used to give commands to the tape drive.  If tapename is not specified, the environment variable is used; if is not defined, the default
       drive is used.

       winds the tape in the requested direction (forward or backward), stopping after the specified count EOF marks or records  are  passed.	If
       count  is  not  specified,  one	is assumed.  Each EOF mark counts as one record.  When winding backwards, the tape always stops at the BOT
       marker, regardless of the number remaining in count.

       accepts the following commands:

	      Write	count EOF marks.

	      Forward space
			count files.

	      Forward space
			count records.

	      Backward space
			count files.

	      Backward space
			count records.

	      Rewind tape.

	      Rewind tape and go offline.

	      Seek to end of data (DDS and QIC drives only).

	      Write	count setmarks (DDS drives only).

	      Forward space
			count setmarks (DDS drives only).

	      Backward space
			count setmarks (DDS drives only).

	      Print status information about the tape drive.

	      Reserve tape drive for sole use by the host issuing the
			command (stape or estape driver only).

	      Release tape drive from sole use by the host issuing the
			command (stape or estape driver only).

       Spacing operations (back or forward space file or record) leave the tape positioned past the object being spaced to  in	the  direction	of
       motion.	That is, backspacing a file leaves the the tape positioned before the file mark, forward spacing a file leaves the tape positioned
       after the file mark.  This is consistent with all classical usage on tapes.

WARNINGS

       Only raw, no-rewind Berkeley-type devices should be specified.  This type of device will not reposition the tape upon close.  An example of
       such a device is or See mt(7) for more details.

       It is possible to wind the tape beyond the EOT marker and off the end of the reel.

       A  reservation  may  only be cleared with a release by the host that issued the original reserve. In the event that the host that holds the
       reservation is no longer available, the command may be used to reclaim the device by issuing a bus  device  reset.   See  st(1M)  for  more
       details.

       The reserve/release functionality can only be issued to drives using the or driver.

EXAMPLES

       Rewind the tape associated with the device file or (if legacy DSF is disabled):

FILES

       Raw magnetic tape interface (stape)
       Raw magnetic tape interface (estape)
       Default tape interface.
			   If legacy DSF is disabled, the default value is

AUTHOR

       was developed by the University of California, Berkeley.

SEE ALSO

       dd(1), st(1M), intro(7), mt(7).

																	     mt(1)