NULL Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (4) Updated: 21 November 2025 Index   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   Index NAME DESCRIPTION NOTES FILES SEE ALSO This document was created by using the manual pages. Time: 12:11:42 GMT, March 24, 2025