Quick Tip

Tame Terminal Noise: Unified Logging with `2>&1`

Challenge: When running commands or scripts, error messages (stderr) and normal output (stdout) are often displayed separately, making it difficult to capture and analyze all output in one place, especially for logging or redirection.

The Solution: Use the `2>&1` redirection operator to send standard error to the same destination as standard output.

your_command &> output.log

Why it works: The `&>` operator is a shorthand for `> output.log 2>&1`. It redirects both stdout (file descriptor 1) and stderr (file descriptor 2) to the specified file, `output.log`. This ensures all output, including errors, is captured in a single log file.

Pro-Tip: For temporary redirection of only stderr, you can use `your_command 2> error.log`.

Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 6/11/2026