Quick Tip

Tame Your Logs: Unified `stderr` and `stdout` with `2>&1`

Challenge: When running commands or scripts, error messages (stderr) often go to a different stream than standard output (stdout), making it difficult to capture all output in a single log file.

The Solution: Redirect both stderr and stdout to a single file using `2>&1`.

your_command_here > output.log 2>&1

Why it works: The `> output.log` redirects stdout to `output.log`. Then, `2>&1` redirects file descriptor 2 (stderr) to the same location as file descriptor 1 (stdout), effectively merging them.

Pro-Tip: Use `>>` instead of `>` to append to the log file rather than overwrite it.

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