Info Catalog coreutils: mkfifo invocation coreutils: Special file types coreutils: readlink invocation

coreutils: mknod invocation

 
 12.5 ‘mknod’: Make block or character special files
 ===================================================
 
 ‘mknod’ creates a FIFO, character special file, or block special file
 with the specified name.  Synopsis:
 
      mknod [OPTION]... NAME TYPE [MAJOR MINOR]
 
    Unlike the phrase “special file type” above, the term “special file”
 has a technical meaning on Unix: something that can generate or receive
 data.  Usually this corresponds to a physical piece of hardware, e.g., a
 printer or a disk.  (These files are typically created at
 system-configuration time.)  The ‘mknod’ command is what creates files
 of this type.  Such devices can be read either a character at a time or
 a “block” (many characters) at a time, hence we say there are “block
 special” files and “character special” files.
 
    Due to shell aliases and built-in ‘mknod’ functions, using an
 unadorned ‘mknod’ interactively or in a script may get you different
 functionality than that described here.  Invoke it via ‘env’ (i.e., ‘env
 mknod ...’) to avoid interference from the shell.
 
    The arguments after NAME specify the type of file to make:
 
 ‘p’
      for a FIFO
 
 ‘b’
      for a block special file
 
 ‘c’
      for a character special file
 
    When making a block or character special file, the major and minor
 device numbers must be given after the file type.  If a major or minor
 device number begins with ‘0x’ or ‘0X’, it is interpreted as
 hexadecimal; otherwise, if it begins with ‘0’, as octal; otherwise, as
 decimal.
 
    The program accepts the following options.  Also see ⇒Common
 options.
 
 ‘-m MODE’
 ‘--mode=MODE’
      Set the mode of created files to MODE, which is symbolic as in
      ‘chmod’ and uses ‘a=rw’ as the point of departure.  MODE should
      specify only file permission bits.  ⇒File permissions.
 
 ‘-Z’
 ‘--context[=CONTEXT]’
      Without a specified CONTEXT, adjust the SELinux security context
      according to the system default type for destination files,
      similarly to the ‘restorecon’ command.  The long form of this
      option with a specific context specified, will set the context for
      newly created files only.  With a specified context, if both
      SELinux and SMACK are disabled, a warning is issued.
 
    An exit status of zero indicates success, and a nonzero value
 indicates failure.
 

Info Catalog coreutils: mkfifo invocation coreutils: Special file types coreutils: readlink invocation