UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi everybody,

Does anyone knows what is that strange file below:"disk_query"
?? What else does we know about it and how big is it?

Thanks


# uname -a
HP-UX coolp01 B.10.20 A 9000/785 2014535552 two-user license
# pwd
/var/sam
# ls -l
total 158
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 0 Jan 4 13:06 auto.master
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 67411 Jan 4 13:05 boot.config
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 29 Jan 8 15:56 coolp01.dion
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4785 Jan 8 15:56 coolp01.iout
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root sys 4785 Jan 8 15:53 coolp01.iout.old
crw------- 1 root sys 188 0x036000 Jan 4 13:06 disk_query
drwxrwxrwx 2 bin bin 1024 Jan 8 16:08 lock
dr-xr-xr-x 2 bin bin 1024 Jan 8 16:08 log
dr-xr-xr-x 2 bin bin 96 Aug 20 09:21 preferences
dr-xr-xr-x 2 bin bin 96 Aug 20 09:21 rt
dr-xr-xr-x 3 bin bin 96 Aug 20 09:21 ug

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.