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UNIX I/O System, I/O Redirection and Piping

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Abstract

Known from Chapter 6, in UNIX, it is through a special file to access one of hardware devices, including character devices (such as the keyboard and printer) and block devices (such as the hard disk). Each hardware device is corresponding to at least one special file. To access a device, use the command or system call that accesses its special file. All I/O devices in the UNIX are treated as files and are accessed as such with the almost same read and write system calls that are used to access all ordinary files (Isaak et al 1998; Jespersen 1995; Sarwar et al 2006). The difference is that device parameters must be set by using a special system call.

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© 2011 Higher Education Press, Beijing and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Liu, Y., Yue, Y., Guo, L. (2011). UNIX I/O System, I/O Redirection and Piping. In: UNIX Operating System. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20432-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20432-6_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-20431-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-20432-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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