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Linux Special File Types
Linux/Unix file systems support a number of special file types. This article provides an overview of available file types and how to create them.
Contents
Special File Types
Beside regular files there are a number of additional file types, that are supported by Linux. The following list contains all special file types.
- Directories
- Links
- FIFOs or Named Pipes
- Block or character special files
Directories
Needless to talk about this type of files. They are important to group and categorize files into groups. They are important to keep track of files and applications available on local and remote systems. To create / remove directories the commands mkdir and rmdir are to be utilized.
Links
Links are utilized to create a reference to existing file system entries – files and directories. To create / remove links the commands ln and rm are to be utilized.
Links may by created as ‘hard links’ and ‘symbolic links (or ‘soft links’). The difference is defined as follows:
Hard Links:This kind of link creates another filesystem entry pointing to an existing file. The link and the original file are indistinguishable. A file will be deleted from disk, if all hard links to the same file have been removed.
Symbolic Links: This kind of link refers to an existing file, by name. If the original file has been deleted the symbolic link becomes invalid.
FIFOs of Named Pipes
FiFOs are utiliized to realize Inter Process communication (IPC). Details my be found in articles referenced at the bottom of of this page. To create / remove links the commands mknod / mkfifo and rm are to be utilized.
Special Files
Special files file system entries utilized to communicate from user-space to device drivers located within the kernel. Details my be found in articles referenced at the bottom of of this page. To create / remove links the commands mknod and rm are to be utilized.
Related articles:
- Introduction to Named Pipes and FIFOs
- What are Device Files?
- An Introduction to Device Drivers (Linux 2.6)