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/dev/null is a special device file in Unix and Unix-like operating systems that discards all data written to it while reporting that the write operation succeeded.
It is commonly used to suppress unwanted output from commands by redirecting standard output (stdout) or standard error (stderr) to it.
For example, using command /dev/null discards the normal output, and command 2> /dev/null discards error messages.
This functionality is essential for cleaning up command output in scripts and system administration tasks.
When read from, /dev/null immediately returns an End of File (EOF) character, making it useful for providing a null input stream to programs that expect input.
This is particularly helpful in shell scripts where a program needs to be signaled that no further input is available, such as when using utilities like mailx that wait for EOF to end input.
The device is also known by programmer jargon terms like "bit bucket" or "black hole".
In other operating systems, equivalent devices exist under different names: NUL: or NUL on CP/M and DOS, nul on OS/2 and newer Windows systems (internally DeviceNull on Windows NT), NIL: on Amiga, and NL: on OpenVMS.
In Windows PowerShell, the equivalent is $null.
The concept of discarding data is also used in IBM systems via JCL's DD DUMMY.
Despite its utility, /dev/null is not a directory, so operations like moving files into it with mv are not valid.
It is also a virtual device with no actual storage, appearing as a character special file with zero size and no allocated blocks.
The device is a foundational element of the Unix philosophy, embodying the idea that "everything is a file" and enabling flexible input/output redirection.
The name /dev/null has also inspired cultural references, including jokes about its capacity being full, fictional characters like Dev Null from a 1996 TV series, and the name of a music producer.
It is also used humorously in tech culture, such as the phrase "send donations to /dev/null" to indicate that donations are not accepted.
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winning.