I am currently doing preparation for my GCSE computing controlled assessment on Linux. I type ls > list and ls >> list into the command line, but it does not do anything. I have googled it but I can't find what it exactly does.
What does:
ls > list
and
ls >> list
do?
Both redirect stdout to file.
ls > list
If the file exists it'll be replaced.
ls >> list
If the file does not exist it'll be created. If it exists, it'll be appended to the end of the file.
Find out more: IO Redirection
This:
ls > list
means redirect the output from the ls command to create a new file called list. If the file already exists, replace it.
Whereas
ls >> list
means redirect the output from the ls command and append it to the file called list If the file doesn't exist then create it.
Typically > is used when wiping out an existing file is ok. This often means that outputs continually overwrites a file based on the latest current state of things. For instance every time you test a program you might over-write the previous test output.
Typically >> is used for items such as logging events, parsing or other data processing where data is created or transformed piece by piece into a new form
Both commands redirect output of ls command to file with name list. > will create/replace the output file with name list. >> will create (if file list not exists already) or append the file list. Can see the contents of file list using cat list.
