byte(F)

byte -- continuous stream of constant bytes

Description

The byte devices generate an unlimited supply of test data but occupy only a small amount of disk space.

Each byte character special file provides an unlimited stream of bytes. The value of each byte is the same as the minor device number of the file.

The character special file /dev/zero is a source of an unlimited stream of zero-value bytes.

Examples

Send test data (BELs) to a serial port:

cat /dev/byte/hex/07 > /dev/tty2d

Create a 10MB test file:

dd if=/dev/byte/hex/ff of=tenmeg bs=1k count=10240

Zero the first four sectors of a floppy disk to destroy any existing boot block and superblock information before making a filesystem on it:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/rfd0 bs=2k count=1

Limitations

Not all /dev/byte/ files may be present on your system.

Files

/dev/byte/dec/0 /dev/byte/dec/255
/dev/byte/hex/00 /dev/byte/hex/ff
/dev/byte/octal/0 /dev/byte/octal/377: sources of continuous streams of bytes with values 0 and 255
/dev/zero: source of a continuous stream of bytes with value zero

byte(F)

Description

Examples

Limitations

Files

See also