Add possibility to make sequential IO "holed"

[fio.git] / HOWTO

diff --git a/HOWTO b/HOWTO
index 72a29a96eb1f05f69561fe85086fd9c5aa6e5cbc..a1b2e8c0bf7a6f51bceb8016618acb32e7dae01e 100644 (file)
--- a/HOWTO
+++ b/HOWTO
@@ -319,8 +319,12 @@ rw=str             Type of io pattern. Accepted values are:
                a number of IO's to do before getting a new offset, this is
                one by appending a ':<nr>' to the end of the string given.
                For a random read, it would look like 'rw=randread:8' for
-               passing in an offset modifier with a value of 8. See the
-               'rw_sequencer' option.
+               passing in an offset modifier with a value of 8. If the
+               postfix is used with a sequential IO pattern, then the value
+               specified will be added to the generated offset for each IO.
+               For instance, using rw=write:4k will skip 4k for every
+               write. It turns sequential IO into sequential IO with holes.
+               See the 'rw_sequencer' option.
 
 rw_sequencer=str If an offset modifier is given by appending a number to
                the rw=<str> line, then this option controls how that