TOPS-10: Files and directories

Files are named file.ext where file is 1-6 characters long and ext 0-3. The extension is used to identify the type of file, eg HELLO.FOR would be a Fortran source code file.

The * and ? wildcards operate like we are used to now, ? matching one character and * matching any number of characters. An example using the DIR command:

.dir hworld.*

HWORLD	FOR     1  <057>   12-Jan-79	DSKB:	[100,100]
HWORLD	REL     1  <057>   12-Jan-79
  Total of 2 blocks in 2 files on DSKB: [100,100]

COPY, RENAME and DELETE do what you'd expect, but note that for the first two you put the new name first followed by an =. For example, to copy HWORLD.FOR to H2.FOR and then rename it to H#.FOR you'd do:

.copy h2.for=hworld.for

.rename h3.for=h2.for
Files renamed:
H2.FOR 

.dir h*.for

HWORLD	FOR     1  <057>   12-Jan-79	DSKB:	[100,100]
H3	FOR     1  <057>   15-Jan-79
  Total of 2 blocks in 2 files on DSKB: [100,100]

Many of these commands are implemented using the PIP utility, which I'll look at in a later post.

Users are identified by a project number and a programmer number. These are both octal values (ie they consist of the digits 0-7), and values for both lower than 7 are reserved by the operating system. If you followed the quick start you logged in as project 100, programmer 100.

This is tied together with the concept of the directory. There is a Master File Directory and below that a User File Directory for each valid project/programmer pair. These are enclosed in square brackets when referencing files, for example:

.dir [100,100]hworld.for

HWORLD	FOR     1  <057>   12-Jan-79	DSKB:	[100,100]

Project/programmer numbers can also be wirldcarded.

[1,1] is also the Master File Directory, so you can see a list of all User File Directories by:

.dir [1,1]

     1,1	1  <555>   21-Apr-78	DSKB:	[1,1]
     1,4	4  <775>   21-Apr-78
     3,3	0  <777>   21-Apr-78
...

You can create sub-directories using the CREDIR command. For example, to create a sub-directory test under my user directory I would run CREDIR and at the prompt give the response [,,test]. I could have typed [100,100,test] but as this is my current log on it allows me to omit it. Running this looks like the below:

.r credir

Create directory: [,,test]
  Created DSKB1:[100,100,TEST].SFD/PROTECTION:775
Create directory: ^C

I can then use this in commands.

.dir [,,test]

%WLDDEM Directory DSK:[100,100,TEST] is empty

It is possible to change your current directory, but it is a little more involved then typing cd on modern systems. Use the SETSRC program and give it the CP command followed by the desired directory at the * prompt. The TP command will list your current directory. Type Control-C to exit.

.r setsrc

*tp
[100,100]/NOSCAN
*cp [,,test]

*tp
[100,100,TEST]/NOSCAN
*^C

To delete a sub-directory, ensure it is empty and then use DELETE on the SFD file representing the directory. So for our example here, test, you would do DELETE TEST.SFD.

Physical devices, such as tape drives, disks and the terminal, are referred to by device names which are 1-3 characters long, an optional digit followed by a colon. Some examples:

You can see a list of physical devices on the system by typing RESOURCES.

These can be referred to in commands. To type the contents of HWORLD.FOR to your terminal you'd normally do TYPE HWORLD.FOR but you could also do COPY TTY:=HWORLD.FOR.

There are also device names pointing to directories. An example is SYS:, the location on disk where system executable files are stored. We can see from the DIR command below that SYS~ points to user [1,4].

.dir sys:pip.exe

PIP	EXE    44  <155>    8-Nov-76	33B(260)	DSKB:	[1,4]

You can create logical device names. Say your program was reading from a DECTape where the unit may change depending on what is in use. Rather than hard-coding the physical name, you can set up a logical name with ASSIGN - for example ASSIGN DTA000: ABC: - and then use ABC: to refer to the tape. DEASSIGN will remove the logical name.

A file has a protection code which is 3 octal digits enclosed in angle brackets like <O57>. Each digit applies to a different class of user..

The values for each digit and their meaning:

So a code of <057>, which is the default, means you can do anything, people in your project can read/execute, and all other users have no access.

Protection can be applied using the PROTECT command:

protect hworld.for<025>

Or directly at file creation time, eg via copy

copy world.for<000>=hworld.for

The default protection can be changed with SET DEFAULT PROTECTION.

Each regular user has an allowance of how much data they can store on disk. A higher quota is given for when you are logged in compared to logged out, to allow for creation of temporary files. The QUOLST command allows you to see this: the units are 128-word blocks, so 576 bytes per block.

.r quolst

User:	100,100
Str	used   left:(in) (out)	(sys)
DSKB:	  135	99865	99865	132307

On an emulated system today this is not a concern. On a real system with small disks and many users, the quota could be set quite low (I read that some undergraduates were limited to 5 blocks).

An alternate way to log out of the system is KJOB. This will give options for you to manage your files to get them under quota.

The quotas are set via the user administration utility REACT, which we'll look at later.

See the Operating Systems Command Manual on Bitsavers for full documentation of TOPS-10 commands.

I welcome any questions or comments, and also especially any corrections if I have got something wrong. Please email me at rupert@timereshared.com and I will add it here and update the main text.