> (Output Redirect)

command > file       # Overwrite file with standard output
command >> file      # Append standard output to file
command 2> file      # Overwrite file with standard error
command 2>> file     # Append standard error to file
command &> file      # Overwrite file with both standard output and standard error
command > /dev/null 2>&1 # Discard both standard output and standard error

The following examples use this directory structure.

Saves command output to a file, overwriting any existing content. The > operator clears the file and writes new content.

ls -la > filelist.txt
cat filelist.txt
total 16
drwxr-xr-x  4 user staff  128 Mar  5 10:00 .
drwxr-xr-x  8 user staff  256 Mar  5 09:00 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 user staff 1200 Mar  5 09:45 README.md
-rwxr-xr-x  1 user staff 2800 Mar  4 18:30 script.sh

Appends output to a file using >>. This is useful for recording logs.

echo "$(date): backup complete" >> backup.log
echo "$(date): cleanup complete" >> backup.log
cat backup.log
Fri Mar  6 12:00:00 JST 2026: backup complete
Fri Mar  6 12:05:00 JST 2026: cleanup complete

Saves only error messages to a file. The 2> operator redirects standard error (fd=2).

make 2> build_errors.log

Saves both standard output and standard error to a single file.

make > build.log 2>&1

Attempting to delete a non-existent file produces an error message, but using 2> /dev/null suppresses it so nothing is shown on screen. The exit status still reflects the error.

rm nonexistent.txt 2> /dev/null
echo $?
1

Silences all output completely. This is commonly used for scripts run on a schedule via cron.

/path/to/script.sh > /dev/null 2>&1

Using > alone truncates a file to zero bytes.

> logfile.txt

Outputs an error message to standard error from within a script. The 1>&2 operator redirects standard output to standard error.

echo "An error occurred." 1>&2

Common Mistake 1: Accidentally overwriting an important file with >

> truncates the target file immediately. Typing the wrong filename destroys its contents with no undo.

echo "test" > /etc/hosts
（/etc/hosts is overwritten immediately）

Use >> to append, or enable noclobber to block accidental overwrites.

set -o noclobber
echo "test" > /etc/hosts
bash: /etc/hosts: cannot overwrite existing file

Common Mistake 2: Wrong order of 2>&1 does not redirect stderr to the file

The order matters. Writing 2>&1 > file redirects stderr to the current stdout (terminal), then redirects stdout to the file. Stderr still goes to the terminal.

command 2>&1 > output.log
（stderr still goes to the terminal）

Redirect stdout to the file first, then redirect stderr to stdout.

command > output.log 2>&1
（both stdout and stderr go to output.log）

Because > overwrites files, accidentally pointing it at an important file will destroy its contents. To prevent accidental overwriting, use Bash's set -o noclobber option, which disallows > on existing files. To override this protection, use >| instead.

For input redirection and here documents, see Input Redirect / Here Document. For combining redirects with pipes, see Pipe (|).