UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi,

According to my understanding tty files that are available in /dev directory are terminals that are given to different users.

please help me understand what are /pty files, like are they drivers to the devices..

also is the default tty terminal given to a user..

Right, so each terminal of each user is assigned an entry in the /dev directory somewhere, just as is each drive, each tape device, etc. The devices are "character" devices, which means they provide an interface to software allowing characters to be written to and read from in sequence. ("block" devices differ in that they can be written to and read from out of sequence.)

The /pty files are just the name given to such character devices. I believe it sort of stands for "Physical Terminal". Originally, they were named "tty" for "Teletype Terminals", where "teletype" was a kind of printer with a keyboard.

I'm not sure what you mean "default tty". Maybe you mean: is there a tty assigned to each user? No there isn't. Maybe you mean: is there a tty device that will be assigned if all others are already assigned? No there isn't.

Actually pty is "pseudo-terminal", used for e.g. network log-ins where there isn't really a physical terminal at all, just a network connection from somewhere in the known universe.