What do these commands mean and do?

Question

What do these commands mean and do? "ls > l" and "ls >> l". I have tried them, but it seems as if they do the same thing - create a file named "l".

Try running each twice. – Oliver Charlesworth Nov 12 '14 at 08:55 — Oliver Charlesworth, Nov 12 '14 at 08:55

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 12 '14 at 08:57

2

ls > l

It create the file and write the output of ls into it.

ls >> l

But this command append the data to existing file if it exist else it does same as above mentioned .

answered Nov 12 '14 at 08:57

Arnab Nandy

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 12 '14 at 09:06

2

ls > l

It redirects to file. It creates the file and overwrites whatever is written in it.

ls >> l

It redirects and append stdout to file.

answered Nov 12 '14 at 09:06

tumisma

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 12 '14 at 08:57

1

This commands list a directory.

The first creates a new file every time it runs and write the output to the file. the second appends the output of ls to the existing file.

answered Nov 12 '14 at 08:57

Jens

3 Answers3