@echo off -> Exist in Linux?

bfloeagle · 07-23-2001, 09:43 AM

I am writing some programs (not really programs - just executable text files with multiple command prompt commands) to make running my system a little easier. I have added them to cron and they are running perfectly.

The only problem I have with them is that they output info. One uses the 'service' program that comes with RH and outputs the result of turning on/off a service. When these are run by cron, it sends an email to root displaying the output. Not that I mind seeing that my programs are working, but now I have a couple hundred messages in my inbox giving my the output for every program after it has run.

Back in the DOS days, you could put '@echo off' into batch files (like the autoexec.bat) to hide all the output of the commands. Is there a way to do this in Linux?

Andy

jharris · 07-23-2001, 10:45 AM

You can just redirect the output of STDOUT and STDERR to /dev/null by using

Code:

program >/dev/null 2>&1

The above example assumes that you are using bash/sh.

HTH

Jamie...

bfloeagle · 07-23-2001, 10:05 PM

Just to play stupid, and to make sure I understood you right, I would put that entire line (with 'program' being the name of the file) into my cron job?

What does the '2>&1' mean?

Andy

jharris · 07-24-2001, 01:19 PM

Code:

program >/dev/null 2>&1

is the same as writing

Code:

program >/dev/null 2>/dev/null

the > is the redirect for STDOUT (standard out), the 2> is the redirect for STDERR (standard error)

cheers

Jamie...