nul
9.9
A part of the computer that throws away any data sent to it
- noun
- /nʌl/
- Specialized
:
nul
- The developer explained that writing to nul is like sending data into a black hole.
Examples
-
The command redirected output to nul.
-
If you want to ignore the command's output, just send it to nul.
-
To prevent unnecessary output, the script redirected its results to nul.
-
I sent the data to nul to discard it.
-
The command sent the data to nul, effectively ignoring it.
-
When you want to discard unwanted output in Windows, you can redirect it to nul.
-
Using nul as a file destination ensures that nothing is written or saved.
Synonyms
8.9
An imaginary place where lost or deleted computer data goes
is a real system device that discards written data immediately
Compounds
How Secure
Surface Forms
Etymology
Nul as the device name comes from the idea of 'nothing' (the same root as null) and is used to send output to 'nowhere', so anything written to nul is simply thrown away like into a black hole.