dev null

[lordSauron]

On 3/13/06, Thilo Six <T.Six at gmx.de> wrote:
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> lordSauron schrieb am 13.03.2006 20:49:
> > Just a little question from someone who's still really new to Unix in general...
> >
> > What is /dev/null?  I've heard it mentioned before, but I don't know
> > what it's function is.  Is it a mechanism that deletes things?  That
> > is my first guess, but I could be off the mark.
>
> Yes you are right. Anything that is copied or moved to /dev/null disapears.
> This works with files or with output on comand line.
>
> try this:
> ls /etc/
>
> and then this:
> ls /etc/ > /dev/null

Will this murder my /etc directory, by chance?

So... /dev/null... that works for output?  Is that how things like
aptitude can have their fancy contant redraw of the screen all the
time?  I've been wondering about things like that, because I want to
make nifty things like that, too.

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