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Date:      Fri, 25 Jun 1999 09:23:18 -0700
From:      "Scott Worthington" <SWorthington@hsag.com>
To:        <ru@ucb.crimea.ua>
Cc:        <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>, <wmptl@MNSi.Net>
Subject:   Re: cron difficulties
Message-ID:  <s7734a9c.091@internal.hsag.com>

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Ruslan Ermilov <ru@ucb.crimea.ua> indicated that his form
of redirection for the 'cron difficulties' is better.

Okay, why is it better? =20

The default distribution of FreeBSD uses the below mentioned form
for cron'ing of the /etc/daily, /etc/weekly, and /etc/monthly shell
scripts:

nameofcommand 2>&1 > /dev/null

Is the default distribution in error?  It works. Does it not?

And again, what makes this form, below, better?

nameofcommand >/dev/null 2>&1

I am fairly new to shell programming, especially with regard to the
power of Unix shells, so I feel compelled to learn more.

Thanks.  This is very interesting.

>>> Ruslan Ermilov <ru@ucb.crimea.ua> 1999-06-24 11:28:00 PM >>>
>>On Thu, Jun 24, 1999 at 02:14:34PM -0700, Scott Worthington wrote:
>>Alright, Nathan... I'm not sure that anyone has really helped you with
>>your cron problem.
>>=20
>> Here's what is going on (and how to solve the problem):
>>=20
>> Your cron'ed software is generating output, there are two kinds:
>> standard output
>> standard error
>>=20
>> This is controlled by your shell.  To learn more, type 'man sh'
>> Press the '/' key and type in standard error.
>>=20
>> Okay, here's the problem with your cron:
>> You are going to redirect the standard out AND standard error to the
>> device null.
>>=20
>> nameofcommand 2>&1 > /dev/null
>>=20
>It's better to write ``nameofcommand >/dev/null 2>&1'' instead.




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