DUMP

Updated November 2018; see History

DUMP <filespec> {,starting-block}

The DUMP command is an implementation of the AMOS command of the same name, for displaying the contents of files only; direct disk block dumps, UFD dumps, and MFD dumps are not supported. The format of the data dump is identical to that produced by AMOS, formatted in either octal or hexadecimal depending on the current job settings (see SET). The current block number displayed under A-Shell is a sequential count of 512 byte blocks starting at one (or the specified block number).

Since there is no difference between random and sequential files under operating systems other than AMOS, and the block linking mechanism is separated from the data itself, all 512 displayed bytes contain actual data; the first two or four will not contain link information as they do for sequential files under AMOS. This may mean that dumping a sequential file under AMOS and A-Shell (which have the same hash-total) will produce differing outputs, being shifted by two or four bytes each block.

The switch " /L " causes the output of DUMP to be directed to the file dump.lst.

Note that 512 byte "blocks" do not necessarily have any physical significance outside of AMOS. Under A-Shell we simply use it as a convenient logical unit.