🚀 go-pugleaf

Thus spake <carheden@holly.colostate.edu>:
>> I've never seen "/dev/stdout>/dev/null" so I
>> couldn't say. It certainly isn't portable. If you leave out the "&"
>> on 2>&1, you get a file called "1" with STDERR output in it.
>
>I was just wondering if STDOUT could be used like a device, but you were

 STDOUT and STDERR are shell conventions and exist seperately from
devices, although they can interact with them.

>right, I checked and there is no such thing.  The 1 and 2 seem confusing
>though.  How and when are they used other than redirection?  When do I
>need the &?

 They are pretty much just used for STDIN and STDOUT redirection. I can't
think of another place where it would be used, off the top of my head.

 Honestly, without digging through a stack of books or searching the net
like crazy, I can't remember where they come from either. I've always
just used them somewhat interchangeably within shells and scripts. Where,
specifically, the 1 and 2 linked up with STDOUT and STDERR respectively,
I couldn't say. As far as use of the & goes, in this case I think it's
used like an escape character so that a file isn't created, which would
be the default from the ">" redirect.

-- 
   Mike Loseke    | Users are simply nature's way of
 mike@verinet.com | keeping me from hogging the processor.