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Full Discussion: > /dev/null
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting > /dev/null Post 302077043 by msridh on Monday 19th of June 2006 03:19:37 AM
Old 06-19-2006
Hi,

In Unix-like operating systems, "/dev/null" or "the null device" is a special file that discards all data written to it, and provides no data to any process that reads from it (it returns EOF).

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.

Best Regards,
Sridhar M


Quote:
Originally Posted by rrs
hello all,

In many shell scripts i found '> /dev/null' , i am not able to get this,
will any one please explain why we are using this.

thanks
sudha
 

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LEARN ABOUT SUNOS

mkdevmaps

mkdevmaps(1M)						  System Administration Commands					     mkdevmaps(1M)

NAME

       mkdevmaps - make device_maps entries

SYNOPSIS

       /usr/sbin/mkdevmaps

DESCRIPTION

       The  mkdevmaps  command	writes	to standard out a set of device_maps(4) entries describing the system's frame buffer, audio, and removable
       media devices.

       The mkdevmaps command is used by the init.d(4) scripts to create or update the /etc/security/device_maps file.

       Entries are generated based on the device special files found in /dev. For the different  categories  of  devices,  the	mkdevmaps  command
       checks for the following files under /dev:

       audio	       /dev/audio, /dev/audioctl, /dev/sound/...
       tape	       /dev/rst*, /dev/nrst*, /dev/rmt/...
       floppy	       /dev/diskette, /dev/fd*, /dev/rdiskette, /dev/rfd*
       removable disk  /dev/dsk/c0t?d0s?, /dev/rdsk/c0t?d0s?
       frame buffer    /dev/fb

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWcsu			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |Obsolete			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       allocate(1), bsmconv(1M), attributes(5)

NOTES

       mkdevmaps might not be supported in a future release of the Solaris operating system.

SunOS 5.10							    8 Oct 2003							     mkdevmaps(1M)
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