What Does NIL mean in startup

[dannyp1]

This may be a dumb question but what does the command NIL mean in the user startup file?  I can't find it in my AmigaDOS book.  Thanks,   Dan :-?

[swift240]

It means dont show.

Run NIL: (what ever)

Do not show it running, for an example

Mike.

[orange]

AFAIK, NIL: is a mysterious 'black hole' device, you can copy (redirect in this case  'Run .. >NIL:' ) anything to it and it will vanish, Windows has NUL:  (Linux probably one too)

don't try 'Dir NIL:' who knows what might happen!   :egad:
 :-D

[Vincent]

orange wrote:
don't try 'Dir NIL:' who knows what might happen!   :egad:

:lol:

That's kept me laughing for a few minutes.

[Ilwrath]

Yeah, essentially, the NIL: device is "black hole."  You can output anything to NIL and it'll just vanish.  This is actually more helpful than you might think, especially in the startup-sequence.  You can run something with output directed to NIL: so the Amiga doesn't try to open a screen for your output before workbench sets the proper resolution.  :-)

for example to silently set an assignment, you'd:

c:assign >NIL: myassign: dh0:mydir/

this will output nothing whatsoever (even if dh0:mydir/ doesn't actually exist), but will still make the assignment, if possible.  (Of course, if dh0: doesn't exist, I think this would still throw a requestor asking for dh0: to be inserted in any drive.  :lol: )

(Linux probably one too)

/dev/null

[huronking]

"No, Donny, these men are nihilists, there's nothing to be afraid of."

 :-D  :-D  :-D