How do I save terminal output to a file?
To write the output of a command to a file, there are basically 10 commonly used ways.
Overview:
Please note that the
n.e.
in the syntax column means "not existing".
There is a way, but it's too complicated to fit into the column. You can find a helpful link in the List section about it.
|| visible in terminal || visible in file || existing
Syntax || StdOut | StdErr || StdOut | StdErr || file
==========++==========+==========++==========+==========++===========
> || no | yes || yes | no || overwrite
>> || no | yes || yes | no || append
|| | || | ||
2> || yes | no || no | yes || overwrite
2>> || yes | no || no | yes || append
|| | || | ||
&> || no | no || yes | yes || overwrite
&>> || no | no || yes | yes || append
|| | || | ||
| tee || yes | yes || yes | no || overwrite
| tee -a || yes | yes || yes | no || append
|| | || | ||
n.e. (*) || yes | yes || no | yes || overwrite
n.e. (*) || yes | yes || no | yes || append
|| | || | ||
|& tee || yes | yes || yes | yes || overwrite
|& tee -a || yes | yes || yes | yes || append
List:
command > output.txt
The standard output stream will be redirected to the file only, it will not be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, it gets overwritten.
command >> output.txt
The standard output stream will be redirected to the file only, it will not be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, the new data will get appended to the end of the file.
command 2> output.txt
The standard error stream will be redirected to the file only, it will not be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, it gets overwritten.
command 2>> output.txt
The standard error stream will be redirected to the file only, it will not be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, the new data will get appended to the end of the file.
command &> output.txt
Both the standard output and standard error stream will be redirected to the file only, nothing will be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, it gets overwritten.
command &>> output.txt
Both the standard output and standard error stream will be redirected to the file only, nothing will be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, the new data will get appended to the end of the file..
command | tee output.txt
The standard output stream will be copied to the file, it will still be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, it gets overwritten.
command | tee -a output.txt
The standard output stream will be copied to the file, it will still be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, the new data will get appended to the end of the file.
(*)
Bash has no shorthand syntax that allows piping only StdErr to a second command, which would be needed here in combination with
tee
again to complete the table. If you really need something like that, please look at "How to pipe stderr, and not stdout?" on Stack Overflow for some ways how this can be done e.g. by swapping streams or using process substitution.command |& tee output.txt
Both the standard output and standard error streams will be copied to the file while still being visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, it gets overwritten.
command |& tee -a output.txt
Both the standard output and standard error streams will be copied to the file while still being visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, the new data will get appended to the end of the file.
Yes it is possible, just redirect the output (AKA stdout
) to a file:
SomeCommand > SomeFile.txt
Or if you want to append data:
SomeCommand >> SomeFile.txt
If you want stderr
as well use this:
SomeCommand &> SomeFile.txt
or this to append:
SomeCommand &>> SomeFile.txt
if you want to have both stderr
and output displayed on the console and in a file use this:
SomeCommand 2>&1 | tee SomeFile.txt
(If you want the output only, drop the 2
above)
You can also use tee
to send the output to a file:
command | tee ~/outputfile.txt
A slight modification will catch stderr as well:
command 2>&1 | tee ~/outputfile.txt
or slightly shorter and less complicated:
command |& tee ~/outputfile.txt
tee
is useful if you want to be able to capture command output while also viewing it live.