In technical terms, “/dev/null” is a virtual device file. As far as programs are concerned, these are treated just like real files. Utilities can request data from this kind of source, and the operating system feeds them data. But, instead of reading from disk, the operating system generates this data dynamically. An example of such a file is “/dev/zero.” In this case, however, you will write to a device file. Whatever you write to “/dev/null” is discarded, forgotten, thrown into the void. To understand why this is useful, you must first have a basic understanding of standard output and standard error… Read more