NAME

zero − source of zeroes

DESCRIPTION

This is a special file that provides a means of obtaining zeroes.  A read from a zero special file returns a buffer full of zeroes.  This file is of infinite length.  Writes to a zero special file succeed at all times, but the data written is ignored. 

If you choose to map to a zero special file, a zero-initialized unnamed memory object is created that is of length equal to the mapping and rounded up to the nearest page size returned by the sysconf function. 

A zero special file object can be shared by several processes as long as a common ancestor has mapped the object as MAP_SHARED. 

NOTES

Note that this version of the operating system does not support remapping of currently mapped pages. 

FILES

/dev/zero

SEE ALSO

Functions: fork(2), mmap(2), sysconf(3).