---
name: "dds-dd"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "dds2tar"
version: "2.5.2-7+b1"
release: "Debian 11 (Bullseye)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/dds-dd"
---

# dds-dd(1)

tool to read a dds device.

## NAME

dds-dd - tool to read a dds device.

## SYNOPSIS

**dds-dd** \[ **-f device** \]

## DESCRIPTION

**dds-dd** reads a dds tape devices (DAT). Every block is read and written to stdout. A tape with unknown block size or blocks of different size can be read.

The default device is */dev/rmt0*, which may be overridden with the environment variable **TAPE**, which in turn may be overridden with the **-f** *device* option. The device must be a character special file.

## OPTIONS

- **-f** *device*

  Device of the tape archive (default is /dev/rmt0). Must be a character special file connected to a dds tape device.

- **-V**,**--version**

  Print the version number of **mt-dds** to stderr and exit immediately.

- **--help**

  print some screens of online help with examples through a pager and exit immediately.

## EXAMPLES

**Example:** Read the tape and make a listing:

dds-dd \| tar ft -

**Example:** Read the tape and make a listing:

dds-dd \| cpio -it

## ENVIRONMENT

The environment variable **TAPE** overrides the default tape device /dev/rmt0.

- [dds2tar(1)](/dds2tar/1.md), [dds2index(1)](/dds2index/1.md), [mt(1)](/mt/1.md), [tar(1)](/tar/1.md)

  ## SEE ALSO

## HISTORY

This program was created to use it in conjunction with dds2tar.

## AUTHOR

J"org Weule (weule@cs.uni-duesseldorf.de), Phone +49 211 751409. This software is available at ftp.uni-duesseldorf.de:/pub/unix/apollo