strange file Post: 13006

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Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers strange file Post 13006 by shaik786 on Thursday 10th of January 2002 05:57:55 AM

01-10-2002

shaik786

Guest

That is a "Character Special File". In UNIX, everything is a file, The Keyboard, The Mouse, The Printer, .... UNIX communicates with any of these devices in "blocks of bytes" or "byte-by-byte". When it communicates with these devices on "byte-by-byte" basis, the file is a "Character Special File" (Exs: Keyboard, Mouse, ...). See the /dev directory for a better understanding.

Type file disk_query to get more information on the file. These files virtually occupy no space.

Quote:

Special files
Special files represent input/output (i/o) devices, like a tty (terminal), a disk drive, or a printer. Because Unix treats such devices as files, a degree of compatibility can be achieved between device i/o, and ordinary file i/o, allowing for the more efficient use of software. Special files can be either character special files, that deal with streams of characters, or block special files, that operate on larger blocks of data. Typical block sizes are 512 bytes, 1024 bytes, and 2048 bytes.

shaik786

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LEARN ABOUT OSX

uname

UNAME(1)						    BSD General Commands Manual 						  UNAME(1)

NAME

     uname -- Print operating system name

SYNOPSIS

     uname [-amnprsv]

DESCRIPTION

     The uname utility writes symbols representing one or more system characteristics to the standard output.

     The following options are available:

     -a      Behave as though all of the options -mnrsv were specified.

     -m      print the machine hardware name.

     -n      print the nodename (the nodename may be a name that the system is known by to a communications network).

     -p      print the machine processor architecture name.

     -r      print the operating system release.

     -s      print the operating system name.

     -v      print the operating system version.

     If no options are specified, uname prints the operating system name as if the -s option had been specified.

SEE ALSO

     hostname(1), machine(1), sw_vers(1), uname(3)

STANDARDS

     The uname utility conforms to IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (``POSIX.2'').	The -p option is an extension to the standard.

BSD
								 November 9, 1998							       BSD

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