[SOLVED] Please explain this :./install >install.log 2>& 1

mq15 · 12-30-2009, 12:04 AM

Hello,
I know that to redirect the output of a command (in terminal) to a file we can use '>' like :

Quote:

./install > install.log

Recently I saw this:

Quote:

./install >install.log 2>& 1

Kindly explain what does the red portion do:

Quote:

./install >install.log 2>& 1

Thanks

evo2 · 12-30-2009, 12:09 AM

Redirects standard error to standard out and therefore into install.log.

Cheers,

Evo2.

mq15 · 12-30-2009, 04:56 AM

Thanks evo2...
Any more explanations ???
like what does '2', '>', '&' and '1' etc signify separately..??
BTW I have come to know that '&' is used to execute a command in the background environment.

evo2 · 12-30-2009, 05:06 AM

"2" is std error and "1" is std out. Details on redirection can be found in th "REDIRECTION" section in the bash man page (I'm not yelling - section title is capitalized). '>&' is a distinct entity, not a compound form of '&' and '>'.

Cheers,

Evo2.

mq15 · 12-30-2009, 07:13 AM

Humm..Thanks a lot evo2..
Have nice days ahead..