How portable are /dev/stdin, /dev/stdout and /dev/stderr?
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Occasionally I need to specify a "path-equivalent" of one of the standard IO streams (
stdin
, stdout
, stderr
). Since 99% of the time I work with Linux, I just prepend /dev/
to get /dev/stdin
, etc., and this "*seems* to do the right thing". But, for one thing, I've always been uneasy about such a rationale (because, of course, "it seems to work" until it doesn't). Furthermore, I have no good sense for how portable this maneuver is.
So I have a few questions:
1. In the context of Linux, is it safe (yes/no) to equate stdin
,
stdout
, and stderr
with /dev/stdin
, /dev/stdout
, and
/dev/stderr
?
2. More generally, is this equivalence "adequately *portable*"?
I could not find any POSIX references.
Asked by kjo
(16299 rep)
Apr 13, 2012, 10:49 PM
Last activity: Jul 3, 2024, 11:30 PM
Last activity: Jul 3, 2024, 11:30 PM