Summary of Tape Unit Commands by Category

Attaching and Detaching Tape Units

ASSIGN Attaches a tape unit to the terminal and assigns channel identity, if specified, and/or tape parameters, to the unit.

CLEAR-ASSIGN Cancels channel assignments and detaches the tape unit previously assigned.

T-ATT Attaches a tape unit to the terminal and assigns tape parameters.

T-DET Detaches a tape unit.

Control

SPACE Performs multiple T-FWD commands.

T-BCK Moves the tape back a specified number of records to the position just after an EOF mark, or to the load point.

T-FWD Moves the tape forward a specified number of records to the point just after an EOF mark.

T-REW Rewinds the tape.

CHECK Checks a specified number of sequential tape files for parity errors.

T-CHK Checks a tape for parity errors.

T-UNLOAD Rewinds the tape and puts the tape unit off-line.

T-VERIFY Compares two tapes to check for data mismatch.

Input/Output

DISCTOTAPE Writes data items created on disk by the TAPETODISC command back to tape so as to create an identical binary image of the original tape.

ST-DUMP Sorts and writes selected items to tape.

T-DUMP Writes selected items to tape.

T-LOAD Loads items saved with the T-DUMP and ST-DUMP commands.

T-READ Dumps the contents of a tape to the terminal or printer.

T-WEOF Writes an EOF mark to tape.

TAPETODISC Reads data from tape to disk, creating a database item for each tape block.  Any type of data can be written, including binary data.

Reading a Tape

T-READ Reads or prints the contents of a Tape.

T-RDLBL Reads, displays and stores the label from the tape.

Tape Status

T-STATUS Reports the current status of each magnetic tape drive on the system.

Tape Copying

T-COPY Performs tape-to-tape copies.  This requires more than one tape unit.

QIC Tape Unit Commands

T-ERASE Prepares a QIC (quarter inch cartridge) tape for new data to be written.

T-RETENSION Winds a QIC tape forward, then back to the beginning-of-tape (BOT) marker, so as to retain the tension in the tape.

Configuring a Tape Device

T-DEVICE Redefines the tape device definition for a specified tape unit.

T-STACKER Enables multi-reel FILE-SAVE/RESTORE operations to be carried out on a multiple cassette tape stacker/autoloader unit without needing to type 'C' to continue at the end of each tape.

Others

SP-TAPEOUT Reads a tape created via the Spooler and outputs jobs to the current Spooler assignment.