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:mem /dev/null /dev/zero NOTES If these devices are not writable and readable for all users, many programs will act strange. FILES /dev/null /dev/zero SEE ALSO mknod(1), chown(1) Linux 21 November 1992 1