Quick Tip

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

Challenge: When running commands that produce both standard output (stdout) and standard error (stderr), it can be cumbersome to manage and analyze these separate streams, especially in scripts or when redirecting output to files.

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

command_that_produces_output &> output.log

Why it works: The `&>` is a shorthand for `&> output.log` which redirects both file descriptors 1 (stdout) and 2 (stderr) to the specified file. Alternatively, you can use `command_that_produces_output > output.log 2>&1` which explicitly redirects stdout (descriptor 1) to `output.log` and then redirects stderr (descriptor 2) to where stdout is currently pointing (which is `output.log`).

Pro-Tip: Use `command … | tee output.log` to both display the output on the terminal and save it to a file simultaneously.

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