This file displays the various character and block devices currently configured (not including devices whose modules are not loaded). The output from /proc/devices includes the major number and name of the device, and is broken into two major sections: character devices and block devices.

Character devices are similar to block devices, except for two basic differences:

1. Character devices do not require buffering. Block devices have a buffer available, allowing them to order requests before addressing them. This is important for devices designed to store information - such as hard drives - because the ability to order the information before writing it to the device allows it to be placed in a more efficient order.
2. Character devices send data with no preconfigured size. Block devices can send and receive information in blocks of a size configured per device.

Below is a sample output from this file:

Character devices:
  1 mem
  4 /dev/vc/0
  4 tty
  5 /dev/tty
  5 /dev/console
  5 /dev/ptmx
  7 vcs
 10 misc
 13 input
 14 sound
 21 sg
108 ppp
116 alsa
128 ptm
136 pts
180 usb
189 usb_device
202 cpu/msr
203 cpu/cpuid
216 rfcomm
226 drm
253 usb_endpoint
254 bsg

Block devices:
  7 loop
  8 sd
 65 sd
 66 sd
 67 sd
 68 sd
 69 sd
 70 sd
 71 sd
128 sd
129 sd
130 sd
131 sd
132 sd
133 sd
134 sd
135 sd