Comments on: What is the linux command 'dt'?

Question: What is the linux command 'dt'?

logicpunk — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:05:17 -0800

Obscure linux/unix text processing command: what is 'dt'?

I'm trying to figure out what one of my boss's data analysis scripts is doing, and I'm hung up on this weird little command called dt. There aren't any man or help pages for it, and googling around hasn't come up with anything.

The script I'm looking at reads in a formatted data file ('tmp') with X numbers of columns. Each row is a consecutive point in time. The line I'm stuck on reads as follows:

cat tmp | dt t 1 t 2 t 3 d 12

The numbers specify columns, but I'm not entirely sure what the 't' and 'd' arguments are doing there. I suspect the script is sorting the data in some fashion, and I could figure it out eventually (or, god forbid, ask the boss), but I'd like to know what the command is and where I can find more information about it.

By: Zed_Lopez

Zed_Lopez — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:11:49 -0800

Could you post here the results of 'uname -a' and 'which dt' executed in the same environment the script is running in? Could be it's a local executable and that's why you can't find anything about it.

By: SirStan

SirStan — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:13:57 -0800

strings `which dt` might give you some insight to where it came from as well (those are backticks, like the key above tab, not single quotes)

By: hattifattener

hattifattener — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:18:55 -0800

Maybe it's a local custom command? Try "which dt" and look at the file (ownership, timestamp, run "strings" on it, etc).

By: hattifattener

hattifattener — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:19:35 -0800

(Note to self: use the "preview" button.)

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:28:53 -0800

Thanks for the hints. It's an old unixstat package function... that'll give me some additional google fodder.

By: Electrius

Electrius — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:29:59 -0800

I don't suppose you've tried man dt yet? I mean, I assume you have but I forget to do that all the time.

By: cgg

cgg — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:35:53 -0800

I have no idea if this is the right 'dt', but googling did point me here.

By: mkultra

mkultra — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:01:46 -0800

cgg's link is the first result for putting "linux dt" into Google- did you even try that? It's got oodles of documentation linked to it.

By: logicpunk

logicpunk — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:49:02 -0800

I don't suppose you've tried man dt yet?

yup, tried that.

putting "linux dt" into Google- did you even try that?

yup, tried that.

Thanks again to Zed_Lopez, SirStan, and hattifattener - 'which dt' eventually led me to the directory this function lives in - it's part of an old (c. mid-1980s) stats package, which partly explains why googling for it failed. The 'dt' function tabulates data.