What "2>&1" means in a Linux shell

Source: Internet
Author: User

The script is:
nohup/mnt/nand3/h2000g >/dev/null 2>&1 &
For & 1 More accurate should be the file descriptor 1, and 1 is generally representative of Stdout_fileno, in fact, this operation is a dup2 (2) call. He standard output to All_result, and then copy the standard output to the file descriptor 2 (stderr_ Fileno), the consequence is that file descriptors 1 and 2 point to the same file table entry, or the wrong output is merged. where 0 means keyboard input 1 means that the screen output 2 indicates an error output. REDIRECT standard error to standard output, and then throw it under/dev/null. In layman's words, all standard output and standard errors are thrown into the trash.
Command >out.file 2>&1 &
Command >out.file redirects the command output to the Out.file file, which means that the output is not printed to the screen, but is output to the Out.file file. 2>&1 is redirecting standard errors to standard output, where the standard output has been redirected to the Out.file file, and the standard error is output to the Out.file file. The last & is to have the command execute in the background.

Imagine what 2>1 stands for, the combination of 2 and > represents error redirection, while 1 represents the error redirection to a file 1, not the standard output;
Replacing 2>&1,& with 1 represents the standard output, which becomes an error redirect to the standard output.

You can use
LS 2>1 test, will not report the error of No 2 file, but will output an empty file 1;
ls xxx 2>1 test, no xxx This file error output to 1;
ls xxx 2>&1 test, will not generate 1 of this file, but the error ran to the standard output;
ls xxx >out.txt 2>&1, actually can be replaced with ls xxx 1>out.txt 2>&1; redirect symbol > default is 1, error and output are uploaded to OUT.txt.
why 2>&1 to write in the back?
Command > File 2>&1
The first is command > file to redirect the standard output to file, 2>&1 is the standard error copy of the standard output behavior, which is also redirected to file, the end result is that the standard output and errors are redirected to file.
Command 2>&1 >file
The 2>&1 standard error copies the behavior of the standard output, but at this point the standard output is still in the terminal. The output is redirected to file after >file, but the standard error remains at the terminal.

With Strace you can see:
1. Command > File 2>&1
The key system call sequences that implement redirection in this command are:
Open (file) = = 3
Dup2 (3,1)
Dup2 (ON)

2. Command 2>&1 >file
The key system call sequences that implement redirection in this command are:
Dup2 (ON)
Open (file) = = 3
Dup2 (3,1)

What "2>&1" means in a Linux shell

Related Article

Contact Us

The content source of this page is from Internet, which doesn't represent Alibaba Cloud's opinion; products and services mentioned on that page don't have any relationship with Alibaba Cloud. If the content of the page makes you feel confusing, please write us an email, we will handle the problem within 5 days after receiving your email.

If you find any instances of plagiarism from the community, please send an email to: info-contact@alibabacloud.com and provide relevant evidence. A staff member will contact you within 5 working days.

A Free Trial That Lets You Build Big!

Start building with 50+ products and up to 12 months usage for Elastic Compute Service

  • Sales Support

    1 on 1 presale consultation

  • After-Sales Support

    24/7 Technical Support 6 Free Tickets per Quarter Faster Response

  • Alibaba Cloud offers highly flexible support services tailored to meet your exact needs.