NULL(4) Linux Programmer's Manual NULL(4)
NAME
null, zero - data sink
DESCRIPTION
Data written on a null or zero special file is discarded.
Reads from the null special file always return end of file, whereas
reads from zero always return \0 characters.
null and zero are typically created by:
mknod -m 666 /dev/null c 1 3
mknod -m 666 /dev/zero c 1 5
chown root:root /dev/null /dev/zero
NOTES
If these devices are not writable and readable for all users, many pro-
grams will act strangely.
FILES
/dev/null
/dev/zero
SEE ALSO
chown(1), mknod(1), full(4)
Linux 1992-11-21 NULL(4)
