ansitape(1)							   ansitape(1)

NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     ansitape -	ANSI standard tape handler

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     ansitape [key] [keyargs] [files]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     ansitape reads and	writes magnetic	tapes written in ANSI standard format
     (called ``Files-11'' by DEC).  Tapes written by ansitape are labeled with
     the first six characters of the machine name by default.  Actions are
     controlled	by the key argument.  The key is a string of characters
     containing	at most	one function letter.  Other arguments to the command
     are a tape	label and filenames specifying which files are to be written
     onto or extracted from the	tape.

     Note that this version is designed	to work	with text files	that is, those
     with no more than 2044 bytes without a newline character.	Binary files
     are unlikely to be	handled	correctly on either creation or	extraction.

     The function portion of the key is	specified by one of the	following
     letters:

     r	     The named files are written at the	end of the tape.  The c
	     function implies this.

     x	     The named files are extracted from	the tape.  If no file argument
	     is	given, the entire contents of the tape are extracted.  Note
	     that if the tape has duplicated filenames,	only the last file of
	     a given name can be extracted.

     t	     The names of the specified	files are listed each time they	occur
	     on	the tape.  If no file argument is given, all files on the tape
	     are listed.

     c	     Create a new tape;	writing	begins at the beginning	of the tape
	     instead of	after the last file.  This command implies r.

     The following characters may be used in addition to the letter that
     selects the function desired.

     f	     This argument allows the selection	of a different tape device.
	     The next word in the keyargs list is taken	to be the full name of
	     a local device on which to	write the tape.	 The default is
	     /dev/tape.

     n	     The n option allows the user to specify, as the next argument in
	     the keyargs list, a control file containing the names of files to
	     put on the	tape.  If the filename is '-', the control file	will
	     instead be	read from standard input.  The control file contains
	     one line for each file placed on the tape.	 Each line has two
	     names, the	name of	the file on the	local machine and its name
	     when placed on the	tape.  This allows for a convenient flattening



									Page 1






ansitape(1)							   ansitape(1)



	     of	hierarchies when placing them on tape.	If the second name is
	     omitted, the UNIX filename	will also be used on the tape.	This
	     argument can only be used with the	r and c	functions.

     l	     The l option allows the user to specify the label to be placed on
	     the tape.	The next argument in the keyargs list is taken as the
	     tape label, which will be space padded or truncated to six
	     characters.  This option is meaningless unless c is also
	     specified.

     v	     Normally ansitape works relatively	silently.  The v (verbose)
	     option causes it to type information about	each file as it
	     processes it.

     b	     The b option allows the user to select the	block size to be used
	     for the tape.  By default,	ansitape uses the maximum block	size
	     permitted by the ANSI standard, 2048.  Some systems will permit a
	     much larger block size, and if large files	are being put on the
	     tape, it may be advantageous to do	so.  ansitape takes the	next
	     argument of the keyargs list as the block size for	the tape.
	     Values below 18 or	above 32k will be limited to that range.  The
	     standard scale factors b=512 and k=1024 are accepted.

     F	     The F flag	allows ansitape	to write ANSI 'D' format-fixed
	     record-length tapes.  The next two	keyargs	must be	the recordsize
	     and blocksize, with the same scale	factors	and range limits as
	     the b option.  The	files to be written by the F flag must be in
	     fixed format on the UNIX end-all lines should be exactly record-
	     size bytes	long plus a terminating	newline	(which will be
	     discarded).  Note that this is exactly the	same format produced
	     by	ansitape when reading an ANSI 'D' format tape.

     ansitape will not copy directories, character or block special files,
     symbolic links, sockets, or binary	executables.  Attempts to put these on
     tape will result in warnings, and they will be skipped completely.

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     /dev/tape default tape drive

DIAGNOSTICS    [Toc]    [Back]

     A warning message will be generated when a	record exceeds the maximum
     record length, and	the affected file will be truncated.

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

     ansitape quietly truncates	names longer than 17 characters.

     Multivolume tapes can be read (provided no	files cross the	volume
     boundary) but not written.







									Page 2






ansitape(1)							   ansitape(1)



SEE ALSO
     vmsprep(1), mtio(7).


									PPPPaaaaggggeeee 3333