User`s guide

ASSIGN

The ASSIGN command is helpful when you have a program that refers to an

unavailable device. In this case, you can use the ASSIGN command to direct input

and output to an available device.

If the logical name you supply is already associated with a physical device, RT–

11 disassociates the logical name from that device and assigns it to the device you

specify.

You can assign only one logical name with each ASSIGN command, but you can use

several ASSIGN commands to assign different logical names to the same device.

Displaying Logical-Device Assignments

Use the SHOW command to display logical-device name assignments on the

terminal.

Two System Logical Names

RT–11 uses two special logical-device names: SY and DK. SY is the operating system

device; that is, the device from which the monitor was bootstrapped. You cannot

assign SY to represent any other device. DK is the default storage device. You can

assign DK to any device.

When you boot the operating system, SY and DK are both assigned to the boot device.

However, after you install the system ﬁles, you can reassign the logical name DK to

a different device.

NOTE

Logical-name assignments stay in effect until the

system is rebooted. So, if you want your logical-

name assignments to be used each time you start your

operating system, you should include these assignments

in your startup command ﬁle.

You cannot assign BA and SY.

Extended-Unit System-Generation Option

If you do a system generation and select monitor support for extended-device units

and if you boot the monitor you generated, you can use the ASSIGN command with

the asterisk (*) as in the following format:

ASSIGN catch-all-device

This command causes any operation that is directed to an undeﬁned device to be

directed to the catch-all-device without conﬁrmation. That is, if a speciﬁed device

does not exist as a logical or physical device, then operations directed to that

undeﬁned speciﬁed device are automatically redirected to the device you assigned

as the catch-all device.

The catch-all device gets a device reference if the device is not found in the deﬁned

logical-device name table or is not a reference to a physical device in the system.

RT–11 Command Descriptions 3