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Device file

In Unix-like operating systems, a device file, device node, or special file is an interface to a device driver that appears in a file system as if it were an ordinary file. There are also special files in DOS, OS/2, and Windows. These special files allow an application program to interact with a device by using its device driver via standard input/output…

Standards, Unix and Unix-like systems & Overview

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Unix and Unix-like systems

KernelNodeOperating systemsComputer platformsDynamic number allocation
64 related topics

Overview

Unix-likeOperating systemsInterfaceDevice driverFile system
36 related topics

PC DOS, TOS, OS/2, and Windows

PC DOSTOSPIPAVAILDEVCONFIG.SYS
10 related topics

IOCS

SharpPocket computersPC-E500PC-E500SBASIC
7 related topics

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Overview

Unix and Unix-like systems

PC DOS, TOS, OS/2, and Windows

IOCS

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Map overview Semantic statistics

Device file

Nodes122
Edges121
Triples80
Avg. degree1.98
Density0.016393
Components1

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Device file

Top relations

related to Further reading · 37
Device file → Addresses, Administration, Advanced, Archived, Chapter, Common, Daniel Robbins, DEVFS, Device File System Guide, Device Names, Doug Gilbert, Gentoo Foundation, Gentoo Linux Documentation, How, HOWTO, IBM, Implementing, Inc, Introduction, Jeroen Coumans
related to PC DOS, TOS, OS/2, and Windows · 16
Device file → Because, Block Devices, Character Devices, COM, CP/M, DOS, MS-DOS, OS/2, PC DOS, PRN, The, There, This, TOS, Unix, Windows
related to Unix and Unix-like systems · 8
Device file → As, Device, FreeBSD, Generally, However, The, Two, Unix
related to overview · 6
Device file → Additionally, Device, The, There, These, Unix-like
related to devfs · 4
Device file → Maintaining, OS, The, Unix-like
is a · 1
Device file → reserved keyword used in PC DOS

Important terminology Word statistics

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Important terminology

device devices system files file dev special devfs block systems linux nodes character used names using windows access disk hardware

Entity relationships Subject–Predicate–Object triples

SubjectPredicateObjectConfidenceSrc
Device fileis areserved keyword used in PC DOS0.90text
/dev/urandom or /dev/arandom are also provided./dev/stdininstance ofand sometimes variants0.80text
/dev/stdoutinstance ofand sometimes variants0.80text
/dev/stderrinstance ofand sometimes variants0.80text
FreeBSD use kernel-based device node management via devfs onlyinstance ofSome other Unix systems0.80text
do not support manual node creation. mknodinstance ofSome other Unix systems0.80text
a hard drive is inconvenientinstance ofdepending on the OS.Maintaining these special files on a physically-implemented file system0.80text
and as it needs kernel assistance anywayinstance ofdepending on the OS.Maintaining these special files on a physically-implemented file system0.80text
the idea arose of a special-purpose logical file system that is not physically stored.Defining when devices are ready to appear is not trivialinstance ofdepending on the OS.Maintaining these special files on a physically-implemented file system0.80text
Device filerelated to devfsUnix-like0.60section
Device filerelated to devfsThe0.60section
Device filerelated to devfsOS0.60section

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