[comp.sys.ibm.pc] DOS version of Un*x /dev/null?

nomad@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU (09/20/87)

   There is a psudo-device on PC-DOS called nul: or null: (I can't remember
which) - it is (I believe) the equivalent of /dev/null.
 nomad

-------------------------
LEE DAMON		FidoNet: 152/201 (The Castle) - (503) 757-8841
nomad@cs.orst.edu	Internet:  nomad@cs.orst.edu
			UUCP :  {hp-pcd,tektronix}!orstcs!nomad

     "Say what you like, the bicycle has a great past ahead of it!"

jvc@prism.UUCP (09/28/87)

>DOS has some pre-defined "special" devices, for various purposes.  They are
>typically referenced as a drive identifier, but the ":" may be omitted,
>and DOS will still recognize the "device".  One of these is the "nul:"
>device.  Anything that is re-directed to nul: (or *any* file name
>beginning with "nul") effectively ends up in the bit bucket.  That is why
>it is impossible to create a real file such as "nulify.doc".  The "nul"
>at the beginning of the file name forces DOS to ignore the remaining
>characters.  The same principle applies to the other "special" devices.
>
>Chris Seaman            |    o\  /o

Yea, leaving off the : works but did you try creating a file
"nulify.doc" or did you just assume that you couldn't.  You can use
any of the reserved device names as the first letters of a file
name as long as you have at least one additional character before
the extention.  Example:

	nula.doc
	conb.tre
        prns

As someone mentioned before, adding extentions to device names won't
have any affect.  For example:

	nul
	nul.doc
	nul.com
	nul.exe

all refer to the same device (therefore you cannot create a file with
these names).

jvc@mirror.tmc.com