What are special files in LINUX/UNIX? What are character special and block special files? Run the ls /dev | wc -w command to find the number of special files your system has.

What will be an ideal response?


Every input/output hardware device in a LINUX/UNIX based system is represented by a file, called a special file. If the device performs input or output (or both) one character at a time, the corresponding special file is known as a character special file. If the device performs input/output in terms of multiple (blocks of) bytes at a time, the corresponding special file is known as a block special file. As stated in problem 2, you can determine the type of a file by using the ls -l command and observing the first character in an output line.
The execution of the ls /dev | wc -w command on our system displayed 2,360. This means that our system has 5,052 special files.

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