null(7) — Special Files

OSF

NAME

null − Data sink

Data written on a null special file are discarded.

Reads from a null special file always return 0 (zero) bytes.

To read a device and discard all the data using the dd command:

dd if=/dev/rz1c of=/dev/null

To create a zero length file using the cat command:

cat > foo < /dev/null

/dev/null