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mknod — Create block or character device special files. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/core

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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createcommandspecialclimknodblockcharacterdevice

linux

Problem

How to use the mknod command: Create block or character device special files. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/mknod-invocation.html>.

Solution

mknod — Create block or character device special files. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/mknod-invocation.html>.

Create a block device:

sudo mknod {{path/to/device_file}} b {{major_device_number}} {{minor_device_number}}

Create a character device:

sudo mknod {{path/to/device_file}} c {{major_device_number}} {{minor_device_number}}

Create a FIFO (queue) device:

sudo mknod {{path/to/device_file}} p

Create a device file with default SELinux security context:

sudo mknod {{[-Z|--context]}} {{path/to/device_file}} {{type}} {{major_device_number}} {{minor_device_number}}

Code Snippets

Create a block device

sudo mknod {{path/to/device_file}} b {{major_device_number}} {{minor_device_number}}

Create a character device

sudo mknod {{path/to/device_file}} c {{major_device_number}} {{minor_device_number}}

Create a FIFO (queue) device

sudo mknod {{path/to/device_file}} p

Create a device file with default SELinux security context

sudo mknod {{[-Z|--context]}} {{path/to/device_file}} {{type}} {{major_device_number}} {{minor_device_number}}

Context

tldr-pages: linux/mknod

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