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.

The arguments after name specify the type of file to make:

`p'

for a FIFO

`b'

for a block (buffered) special file

`c'

for a character (buffered) special file

`u'

for a character (unbuffered) special file

When making a block or character special file, the major and minor device numbers must be given after the file type.

The program accepts the following option. Also see section Common options.

`-m mode'

`--mode=mode'

Set the mode of created files to mode, which is symbolic as in chmod and uses 0666 minus the bits set in the umask as the point of departure. See section File permissions.

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