A tour of MTS commands

Thu, Jul 3, 2014

Once how you’ve learnt how to work with files in MTS it’s easy to use the built in MTS commands - there are less than 50 commands and they follow the same basic syntax.

This post will give a quick tour of the commands available in MTS. I’ve grouped them by topic and provided a very brief summary for each.

As always, you can optionally start commands with $, commands can be abbreviated, eg FILESTATUS to FI, and there are some command synonyms shown with / below, such as HELP/EXPLAIN.

General commands

• COMMENT - ignored line, can also use *
• DISPLAY - show parameters and settings
• HELP/EXPLAIN - interactive help system
• MTS - return to MTS command mode from another program
• SET - set MTS global options

SET and DISPLAY respectively set and show a large number of different settings such as printer settings, passwords, how MTS displays help etc.

File commands

• COPY - copy lines to files
• CREATE - create a new file
• DESTROY - remove a file
• DUPLICATE - create a duplicate of a file, making a new file if needed
• EDIT - edit a file
• EMPTY - remove contents of a file or set of files
• FILEMENU - interactive selection of files
• FILESTATUS - view information about files
• LIST - display files
• LOCK - lock a file
• LOCKSTATUS - display status of locks on files
• PERMIT - grant access to files
• RENAME - rename a file or set of files
• RENUMBER - renumber a line file
• TRUNCATE - remove unused space at end of file
• UNLOCK - unlock a file

A quick illustration of the difference between COPY and DUPLICATE:

# create x
  File "X" has been created.
# copy *source* x
> Hello world
> Welcome to MTS
> Goodbye!
> $endfile
# list x
 
       1     Hello world
       2     Welcome to MTS
       3     Goodbye!
# create y
  File "Y" has been created.
# copy x(2,3) y
# list y
 
       1     Welcome to MTS
       2     Goodbye!
# duplicate x z
  File "X" has been duplicated as "Z"; size=1 page; access=Unlim Owner,
   None Others
# list z
 
       1     Hello world
       2     Welcome to MTS
       3     Goodbye!

EMPTY effectively deletes a file and then recreates it with no contents. TRUNCATE will remove space allocated to the file but not used - handy for when disk usage was paid for but less so on an emulated system.

Sessions

• LOG - log session to a file
• SIGNOFF - log out of the system
• SIGNON - log into the system

Run programs

• RERUN - reissue the previous RUN command, optionally changing parameters
• RUN - run a program
• SINK - send output to a file/device
• SOURCE - take input from a file/device

Devices and queues

• CONTROL - operations on files and devices, eg rewind a tape
• CANCEL - stop batch or print jobs
• MOUNT - mount tapes
• RELEASE - stop using a pseudodevice like tape

System information

• SYSTEMSTATUS - show system status, eg tasks or queues

Utilities

• CALC - desktop calculator

Programming

• ALTER/MODIFY - change contents of a register or shared memory
• DEBUG - load a program and enter debug command mode
• DUMP - print out register and CPU information
• IF - test a condition, usually for use in a batch file
• LOAD - load a program into memory but don’t execute it yet
• MAKE - keep interrelated files in an consistent state
• RESTART/START - restart a program, eg after an error
• SDS - transfer control to debug mode
• UNLOAD - remove a previously loaded program from memory

Other commands of less use for Hercules users

• ACCOUNTING - view resources used and charges
• FSMESSAGE - full screen message/email system
• FTP - file transfer protocol
• MESSAGE - line driven email system
• NET - create a network connection

Networking on MTS needed special hardware, so the messaging and network system commands will not be of much use.

Further information

There is online help for each command which you can access directly eg HELP CALC. Full documentation on how to use the commands and what command line parameters are available is available in MTS Volume 1.

In future posts I will go into more detail on some of the more complex or interesting commands.