How are devices represented in UNIX?
By admin on May 1, 2007 in Unix/Linux Interview Questions
All devices are represented by files called special files that are located in/dev directory. Thus, device files and other files are named and accessed in the same way.
A ‘regular file’ is just an ordinary data file in the disk.
A ‘block special file’ represents a device with characteristics similar to a disk (data transfer in terms of blocks).
A ‘character special file’ represents a device with characteristics similar to a keyboard (data transfer is by stream of bits in sequential order).
