Best Answer: What Is Character Special File in Linux?

A character special file is similar to a block device, but data is written one character (eight bits, or one byte) at a time. Examples of character special files: /dev/stdin (Standard input.) /dev/stdout (Standard output.)

What is a block special file in Linux?

“Block special files or block devices provide buffered access to hardware devices, and provide some abstraction from their specifics. Unlike character devices, block devices will always allow the programmer to read or write a block of any size (including single characters/bytes) and any alignment.

What are regular files and character special files?

They appear in a file system just like an ordinary file or a directory. On UNIX systems there are two flavors of special files for each device, character special files and block special files : When a character special file is used for device Input/Output(I/O), data is transferred one character at a time.