Trans is a utility from the Cray machines that has been ported to run on the IBM machines. It knows about several forms of files on older machines and how to convert them for use on current machines.
In particular, text formats can be converted and numeric values can, in most cases, be converted to the IEEE format used on the IBM machines as 8 byte real and integer values. (Note that trans cannot deal with real or integer values that do not occupy full words on the older machines. It cannot deal, for example, with byte arrays or bytes packed into structures.) Simple programs can be written to then convert the data to other formats (such as 4 byte integers and/or reals) as needed.
In many cases trans can figure out what the format of an older file really is, but in some cases additional information must be provided. The table below is an attempt to specify what is needed for several older forms of files. If you have trouble, try a more complete specification of the format of the input file.
For more details on trans, see the trans man page.
Common Uses of trans
| Files Created On | By | To get to IBM format use |
|---|---|---|
| CDC 6600 or CRAY 7600 |
most text editors | trans -i infile,7600 -o outfile |
| trix red | trans -i infile,7600,red -o outfile | |
| Fortran Sequential Formatted write (and namelist and list directed) |
trans -i infile,7600 -o outfile | |
| Fortran Sequential Unformatted write | trans -i infile,7600 -o outfile | |
| Fortran Direct access Formatted write | trans -i infile,7600 -o outfile | |
| Fortran Direct access Unformatted write | trans -i infile,7600 -o outfile abs | |
| Fortran two argument buffer out | trans -i infile,7600 -o outfile | |
| Fortran three argument buffer out | trans -i infile,7600 -o outfile abs | |
| Cray running ltss, ctss, or nltss |
text editors | trans -i infile -o outfile |
| Fortran Sequential Formatted write (and namelist and list directed) |
trans -i infile -o outfile | |
| Fortran Sequential Unformatted write | trans -i infile -o outfile | |
| Fortran two arg buffer out to file connected for unformatted I/O | trans -i infile -o outfile | |
| Fortran two arg buffer out to file connected for formatted I/O | trans -i infile -o outfile abs | |
| Fortran three argument buffer out | trans -i infile -o outfile abs | |
| Cray running Unicos |
text editors | (No translation needed) |
| Fortran Sequential Formatted write (and namelist and list directed) |
(No translation needed) | |
| Fortran Sequential Unformatted write of numeric data | trans -i infile -o outfile | |
| Fortran Sequential Unformatted write of character data | trans -i infile,cos -o outfile Note: output file is text file as if it had been formatted write |
|
| Fortran Direct access Formatted write | (No translation needed) | |
| Fortran Direct access Unformatted write of numeric data | trans -i infile -o outfile abs | |
| Fortran Direct access Unformatted write of character data | (No translation needed) | |
| Fortran two arg buffer out to file connected for unformatted I/O | trans -i infile -o outfile | |
| Fortran two arg buffer out to file connected for formatted I/O | trans -i infile -o outfile abs | |
| Fortran three argument buffer out | trans -i infile -o outfile abs |
Once a file has been converted to IBM format, it can be moved via FTP to other platforms and FTP will take care of any additional conversion that is needed.