How can I suppress all output from a command using Bash?

bash shell scripting echo
6bytes picture 6bytes · Mar 6, 2009 · Viewed 353.6k times · Source

I have a Bash script that runs a program with parameters. That program outputs some status (doing this, doing that...). There isn't any option for this program to be quiet. How can I prevent the script from displaying anything?

I am looking for something like Windows' "echo off".

Answer

andynormancx picture andynormancx · Mar 6, 2009

The following sends standard output to the null device (bit bucket).

scriptname >/dev/null

And if you also want error messages to be sent there, use one of (the first may not work in all shells):

scriptname &>/dev/null
scriptname >/dev/null 2>&1
scriptname >/dev/null 2>/dev/null

And, if you want to record the messages, but not see them, replace /dev/null with an actual file, such as:

scriptname &>scriptname.out

For completeness, under Windows cmd.exe (where "nul" is the equivalent of "/dev/null"), it is:

scriptname >nul 2>nul

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