Finding block and character devices

[Alistair Scott]

Hello All,

Can anyone tell me the best way to find all block and character device files on a system ?
Can this be done using the find command ?

Thanks

[Helen French]

You can do this with the find command. You have to use option -type "b" for block and "c" for character special files. For eg:

# find / -type b -depth -print > /tmp/block_files

[John Palmer]

Yes, you can use find with -type b for block devices or -type c for character devices. man find for details.

e.g.

find / -type b
find / -type c

Regards,
John

[John Palmer]

You can also find both types with one command, with:

find / \( -type b -o -type c \)

Regards,
John

[omars]

Hi ,

Best to use the command

a.) lsdev | more

b.) the device files are
stored in /dev directory.
These are so called "block & character" files

c.) alternative the find command will assist you

To create device files ,you can use
a.) insf
b.) mksf
c.) mknod

Hope this helps

rgds,
omari

[Bill Hassell]

And just a note for good sysadmin practices. The mknod command can create a device file anywhere but for consistency, they should all appear in /dev. From a security point of view, a rogue device file in /tmp or /home... can be a security risk.