special file: From (see) http://www.isu.edu/departments/comcom/unix/workshop/fstour.html:

Special files represent input/output (i/o) devices, like a tty (terminal), a disk drive, or a printer. Because UNIX treats such devices as files, a degree of compatibility can be achieved between device i/o, and ordinary file i/o, allowing for the more efficient use of software. Special files can be either character special files, that deal with streams of characters, or block special files, that operate on larger blocks of data. Typical block sizes are 512 bytes, 1024 bytes, and 2048 bytes.

Contributors

• RandyKramer - 30 Jan 2002
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