Foreign Tape Processor FTP allows a user to read, write and dump tapes that are not compatible with Files-11 format. The general form of the FTP command line is: [output switches] = [input switches] Input and output switches are: /FT - File Type /DF - Dump Format /RS - Record size /RC - Record count /LI - List defaults /CO - Tape to tape copy /RW - Rewind tape /FF - Forward file(s) /BF - Backward file(s) /FR - Forward record(s) /BR - Backward record(s) /CP - Check parity /TM - Write tape mark(s) Further HELP may be obtained by typing the qualifiers: HELP FTP DEFAULTS - Describes default switch settings HELP FTP EXAMPLES - some examples of use, or; HELP FTP SWITCHES - explains syntax of switches 2 DEFAULTS Initial default values for FTP are: Switch Name Input value Output value FT FileType ASCII ASCII RS RecSize 80 80 (Bytes) Blocksize 80 80 (A subswitch of RS) DF DumpFormat na. ASCII SW Swap noswap na. (of bytes within word) RC RecCount 32767 32767 Default values can be changed for a session by typing the switch and new default value, without a file or device specification. For example, if an input tape contains a series of blocked ASCII files of 80 characters per record, 10 records per block, the input default can be changed by typing: FTP>=/RS:80:800 800 is now the current default. It may be overridden during any single FTP command, by simply including the RS switch on the input side. Defaults can be listed at any time by /LI for output, or =/LI for input. 2 SWITCHES Switches may appear as qualifiers to either input or output filespecs, or, they may appear by themselves to either set or display default characteristics. Some switches may have subswitches. Subswitches are separated from the main switch by a colon ":". The recordsize subswitch (/RS ) has a mandatory subswitch and an optional blocksize subswitch. Help for each switch may be printed by typing: HELP FTP SWITCHES 3 LI The /LI (LIst defaults) switch may take the form: /LI - list output defaults MTx:/LI - list output defaults and current file/record info for tape x (0 to 3) =/LI - list input defaults only =MTx:/LI - list input defaults and current file/record info for input tape x. 3 RS The /RS (Record Size) switch may appear on either or both, input or output. It must have a recordsize subswitch in the of the form: /RS:n where n is the recordsize in bytes. n must be even. The /RS switch may also have a blocksize subswitch. Its syntax is: /RS:n:m where m is the block size in bytes. "n" must divide "m" evenly. If "m" is not specified, it is equated to "n". Neither "m" nor "n" may exceed 16384. 3 FT The /FT (File Type) switch defines the character type of either the input or output files. The default is AScii. Subswitches are: /FT:AS - ASCII /FT:BI - Binary /FT:EB - EBCDIC If the output filetype is not the same as the input type, and one is EBCDIC, then the bytes are translated from ASCII to EBCDIC or vice versa. Any undefined characters are translated into nulls. 3 DF The /DF (Dump Format) switch defines the form out the output, as long as the output file type is not BInary. The default is ASCII. Subswitches are: /DF:AS - ASCII /DF:HX - Hexidecimal /DF:OT - Octal /DF:WO - Words Only (ie. how many words were in the input record.) 3 RC The /RC (Record Count) switch defines how many logical records are to be processed on either input or output. The default is 32767. The format of the switch is: /RC:n where n is a decimal from 1 to 32767. 3 CO The /CO (COpy tape) switch can only appear on the input file spec. The Both the input and output devices must be tape. There is an optional subswitch which defines the number of files to copy. The default number is 32767. The copy continues until the file count is 0 or the logical end of tape is reached. The syntax for the switch is: /CO or, /CO:n 3 CP The /CP (Check for Parity) switch can only appear with an input tape device. No output specifications can be present. The input tape is read continuously and checked for parity errors. If one is encountered, the file and logical record number where the error occured is reported. The check ends at the logical end of tape. There are no subswitches. 3 RW The /RW (ReWind) switch can only appear as an output switch. The output device must be tape. The tape unit is rewound to the load point. There are no subswitches. 3 FF The /FF (Forward File) switch can only appear as an output switch. The output device must be tape. The tape is advanced to the first logical record of the next file. This switch has an optional subswitch of the form /FF:n where n is the number of files to skip. For example, MT0:/FF:2 would skip tape unit 0 ahead 2 files. 3 BF The /BF (Backward File) switch can only appear as an output switch. The output device must be tape. The tape is rewound to the beginning of the previous file. The default is one file. The default can be modified by the subswitch /BF:n where n is the number of files to back up. For example, MT0:/BF:3 would position MT0 at the beginning of the third previous file. Note that /BF:0 would skip backward to the beginning of the current file. 3 FR The /FR (Forward Record) switch can only appear as an output switch. The output device must be tape. The default record count is 1. The default can be modified by the subswitch /FR:n, where n is the number of logical tape records to advance. The advance halts when the record count is 0 or end-of-file is encountered. 3 BR The /BR (Backward Record) switch can only appear as an output switch. The output device must be tape. The default record count is 1, but may be modified by using the subswitch form, /BR:n where n is the number of records to rewind. Tape motion halts when either the record count is 0 or the beginning-of-file is encountered. 3 TM The /TM (Tape Mark) switch can only appear as an output switch. The output device must be tape. The default count is 1, but may be modified by using the subswitch form /TM:n where n is the number of tape marks to write. The switch causes n end-of-file marks to be written to the output tape device. 2 EXAMPLES Examples of using FTP are: FTP>FILE1.DAT=MT0:/RS:80:800 This would copy the current file on MT0 to a disk file named FILE1.DAT. The tape file is blocked with 10 logical records per physical tape record. FTP>MT0:/FT:EB/RS:84:840 = MYPROG.FTN This would copy the ASCII file MYPROG.FTN to tape MT0 translating ASCII characters to EBCDIC. The tape would be blocked with 10 logical records of 84 characters per physical tape record. FTP>MT0:/LI Lists the current output defaults and the current file and record position of tape MT0.