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:
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 option. Also see Common options.
An exit status of zero indicates success, and a nonzero value indicates failure.