Redirect Bash Errors and Output to /dev/null

Running scripts in the background or for cron jobs can product output that you would like to redirect. The standard way to redirect errors and output in Linux is to /dev/null.

Command line Bash Script Usage

• To run a script and redirect errors and output

$ ExampleScript.sh > /dev/null 2>&1

Cron Bash Script Usage

• Run a cron job every 30 minutes and redirect error and output from script

*/30 * * * * ~/bin/CheckServerStatus.sh > /dev/null 2>&1

What is the 2>&1 syntax?

• Stdin is 0
• Stdout is 1
• Stderr is 2
• If 2>1 was defined to redirect stderr to stdout, it would be interpreted as redirect stderr to a file named 1 
•  Using & defines what follows is a file descriptor and not a filename
•  Leads to : 2>&1

What is /dev/null?

• Virtual file on Linux
• Data written to /dev/null is discarded
• Known sometimes as the "Black hole"