Word.ws English Dictionary

devnull

devnull is the alternative form of /dev/null.

Meaning of /dev/null

Proper noun

/dev/null

  1. A device file, present in Unix and Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, that discards all data written to it and yields no output, always presenting as an empty file when read.
    • It's possible to suppress the compiler's warnings by redirecting standard error to /dev/null.
  2. (Internet, figuratively) Nowhere; often suggests an intent to ignore specific correspondence.
    • Thoughtful discussion and criticism is welcomed, but please send all flames to dev null.1992 September 17, Douglas Meier <dmeier@casbah.acns.nwu.edu>, “Welfare Reform Idea”, in talk.politics.misc (Usenet), message-ID <1992Sep17.064757.551@news.acns.nwu.edu>

Questions about devnull

What is devnull the alternative form of?
Devnull is the alternative form of /dev/null.

Words near devnull in the dictionary

  1. Devlins
  2. devlog
  3. devlogs
  4. devnode
  5. devnodes
  6. devnull
  7. devo
  8. devo max
  9. devo-max
  10. devocalisation
  11. devocalise

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: devnull (page history and authors); /dev/null (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “devnull.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/devnull. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.