Quick Tip

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

Challenge: When running commands or scripts, you often have both standard output (stdout) and standard error (stderr) messages. It can be cumbersome to manage these separately, especially when trying to capture all output into a single log file.

The Solution: Redirect both standard output and standard error to the same destination.

your_command &> output.log

Why it works: The `>&1` redirection operator tells the shell to send file descriptor 1 (stdout) to wherever file descriptor 2 (stderr) is currently pointing. By using `> output.log` (which implicitly redirects stdout to the file), we effectively send both stdout and stderr to `output.log`.

Pro-Tip: For more granular control, you can redirect stderr separately first, and then merge it with stdout: your_command > output.log 2>&1. This achieves the same result but can be easier to read for some.

Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 6/5/2026