With Bash Scripting, how can I suppress all output from a command?

Question

I have a bash script that runs a program with parameters. That program outputs some status (doing this, doing that...). There is no 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 1

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

Answer 2

Something like

script > /dev/null 2>&1

This will prevent standard output and error output, redirecting them both to /dev/null.

Answer 3

Like andynormancx post use this: (if you're working in an Unix environment)

scriptname > /dev/null

or you can use this: (if you're workin in a Windows environment)

scriptname > null

The 'null' can be anything, this will create a file with that name and will write all the output there. Then you can delete that file.