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