Null device
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In some operating systems, the null device is a device file that discards all data written to it but reports that the write operation succeeded. This device is called /dev/null on Unix or Unix-like systems, NUL: or NUL on DOS and CP/M, \Device\Null on Windows NT, nul on newer Windows systems, NIL: on Amiga operating systems, and the NL: on OpenVMS. In Windows Powershell, the equivalent is $null. It provides no data to any process that reads from it, yielding EOF immediately.[1] In IBM DOS, MFT, MVT, OS/390 and z/OS operating systems, such files would be assigned in JCL to DD DUMMY.
In programmer jargon, especially Unix jargon, it may also be called the bit bucket[2] or black hole.
Usage
The null device is typically used for disposing of unwanted output streams of a process, or as a convenient empty file for input streams. This is usually done by redirection.
The /dev/null device is a special file, not a directory, so one cannot move a whole file or directory into it with the Unix mv command. The rm command is the proper way to delete files in Unix.
References in computer culture
This entity is a common inspiration for technical jargon expressions and metaphors by Unix programmers, e.g. "please send complaints to /dev/null", "my mail got archived in /dev/null", and "redirect to /dev/null"—being jocular ways of saying, respectively: "don't bother sending complaints", "my mail was deleted", and "go away". The iPhone Dev Team commonly uses the phrase "send donations to /dev/null", meaning they do not accept donations. The fictitious person name "Dave (or Devin) Null" is sometimes similarly used (e.g., "send complaints to Dave Null").[citation needed] In 1996, Dev Null was an animated virtual reality character created by Leo Laporte for MSNBC's computer and technology TV series, The Site. A 2002 advertisement for the Titanium PowerBook G4 reads [The Titanium Powerbook G4] Sends other UNIX boxes to /dev/null. [3]
The null device is also a favorite subject of technical jokes,[4] such as warning users that the system's /dev/null is already 98% full. The April Fool's, 1995 issue of the German magazine c't reported on an enhanced /dev/null chip that would efficiently dispose of the incoming data by converting it to a flicker on an internal glowing LED.
See also
- Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
- Memory hole
- rm (Unix)
- Standard streams
- Unix philosophy
- Write-only memory
References
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