On Wed, 27 Mar 2002, Toby Fisher wrote: > uOn Wed, 27 Mar 2002, Kerry Hoath wrote: > > > To make a command show usage and page the result do this: > > ls --help 2>&1|less > > the 2>&1 redirects standard error to standard output so you can page the result > > through a pager. > > Hmm, have never needed the 2>&1, don't know what I'll be missing then. > *grin* Some programs send their help text to standard error, rather than standard output. I personally think that people who do this should have their head read. At any rate, the 2>&1 is needed for these programs to send standard error to standard output. Geoff.
