Linux ---- I/O redirection / exec

I/O Redirection

There are always three default files [1]open, stdin (the keyboard), stdout (the screen), and stderr (error messages output to thescreen). These, and any other open files, can be redirected.Redirection simply means capturing output from a file, command,program, script, or even code block within a script (see Example 3-1 and Example 3-2) and sending it asinput to another file, command, program, or script.

Each open file gets assigned a file descriptor.[2]The file descriptors for stdin,stdout, and stderr are0, 1, and 2, respectively. For opening additional files, thereremain descriptors 3 to 9. It is sometimes useful to assign one ofthese additional file descriptors tostdin,stdout, or stderras a temporary duplicate link. [3]This simplifies restoration to normal after complex redirectionand reshuffling (seeExample 20-1).

COMMAND_OUTPUT > # Redirect stdout to a file. # Creates the file if not present, otherwise overwrites it. ls -lR > dir-tree.list # Creates a file containing a listing of the directory tree. : > filename # The > truncates file "filename" to zero length. # If file not present, creates zero-length file (same effect as 'touch'). # The : serves as a dummy placeholder, producing no output. > filename # The > truncates file "filename" to zero length. # If file not present, creates zero-length file (same effect as 'touch'). # (Same result as ": >", above, but this does not work with some shells.) COMMAND_OUTPUT >> # Redirect stdout to a file. # Creates the file if not present, otherwise appends to it. # Single-line redirection commands (affect only the line they are on): # -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1>filename # Redirect stdout to file "filename." 1>>filename # Redirect and append stdout to file "filename." 2>filename # Redirect stderr to file "filename." 2>>filename # Redirect and append stderr to file "filename." &>filename # Redirect both stdout and stderr to file "filename." # This operator is now functional, as of Bash 4, final release. M>N # "M" is a file descriptor, which defaults to 1, if not explicitly set. # "N" is a filename. # File descriptor "M" is redirect to file "N." M>&N # "M" is a file descriptor, which defaults to 1, if not set. # "N" is another file descriptor. #============================================================================== # Redirecting stdout, one line at a time. LOGFILE=script.log echo "This statement is sent to the log file, \"$LOGFILE\"." 1>$LOGFILE echo "This statement is appended to \"$LOGFILE\"." 1>>$LOGFILE echo "This statement is also appended to \"$LOGFILE\"." 1>>$LOGFILE echo "This statement is echoed to stdout, and will not appear in \"$LOGFILE\"." # These redirection commands automatically "reset" after each line. # Redirecting stderr, one line at a time. ERRORFILE=script.errors bad_command1 2>$ERRORFILE # Error message sent to $ERRORFILE. bad_command2 2>>$ERRORFILE # Error message appended to $ERRORFILE. bad_command3 # Error message echoed to stderr, #+ and does not appear in $ERRORFILE. # These redirection commands also automatically "reset" after each line. #=======================================================================

2>&1 # Redirects stderr to stdout. # Error messages get sent to same place as standard output. >>filename 2>&1 bad_command >>filename 2>&1 # Appends both stdout and stderr to the file "filename" ... 2>&1 | [command(s)] bad_command 2>&1 | awk '{print $5}' # found # Sends stderr through a pipe. # |& was added to Bash 4 as an abbreviation for 2>&1 |. i>&j # Redirects file descriptor i to j. # All output of file pointed to by i gets sent to file pointed to by j. >&j # Redirects, by default, file descriptor 1 (stdout) to j. # All stdout gets sent to file pointed to by j.

0< FILENAME < FILENAME # Accept input from a file. # Companion command to ">", and often used in combination with it. # # grep search-word <filename [j]<>filename # Open file "filename" for reading and writing, #+ and assign file descriptor "j" to it. # If "filename" does not exist, create it. # If file descriptor "j" is not specified, default to fd 0, stdin. # # An application of this is writing at a specified place in a file. echo 1234567890 > File # Write string to "File". exec 3<> File # Open "File" and assign fd 3 to it. read -n 4 <&3 # Read only 4 characters. echo -n . >&3 # Write a decimal point there. exec 3>&- # Close fd 3. cat File # ==> 1234.67890 # Random access, by golly. | # Pipe. # General purpose process and command chaining tool. # Similar to ">", but more general in effect. # Useful for chaining commands, scripts, files, and programs together. cat *.txt | sort | uniq > result-file # Sorts the output of all the .txt files and deletes duplicate lines, # finally saves results to "result-file".

Multiple instances of input and output redirection and/or pipes can be combined in a single command line.

command < input-file > output-file # Or the equivalent: < input-file command > output-file # Although this is non-standard. command1 | command2 | command3 > output-file

See Example 16-31 and Example A-14.

Multiple output streams may be redirected to one file.

ls -yz >> command.log 2>&1 # Capture result of illegal options "yz" in file "command.log." # Because stderr is redirected to the file, #+ any error messages will also be there. # Note, however, that the following does *not* give the same result. ls -yz 2>&1 >> command.log # Outputs an error message, but does not write to file. # More precisely, the command output (in this case, null) #+ writes to the file, but the error message goes only to stdout. # If redirecting both stdout and stderr, #+ the order of the commands makes a difference.

Closing File Descriptors

n<&-

Close input file descriptor n.

0<&-, <&-

Close stdin.

n>&-

Close output file descriptor n.

1>&-, >&-

Close stdout.

Child processes inherit open file descriptors. This is why pipes work. To prevent an fd from being inherited, close it.

# Redirecting only stderr to a pipe. exec 3>&1 # Save current "value" of stdout. ls -l 2>&1 >&3 3>&- | grep bad 3>&- # Close fd 3 for 'grep' (but not 'ls'). # ^^^^ ^^^^ exec 3>&- # Now close it for the remainder of the script. # Thanks, S.C.

For a more detailed introduction to I/O redirection see Appendix F.

Notes

[1]	By convention in UNIX and Linux, data streams and peripherals (device files) are treated as files, in a fashion analogous to ordinary files.
[2]	A file descriptor is simply a number that the operating system assigns to an open file to keep track of it. Consider it a simplified type of file pointer. It is analogous to afile handle in C.
[3]	Using file descriptor 5 might cause problems. When Bash creates a child process, as withexec, the child inherits fd 5 (see Chet Ramey's archived e-mail, SUBJECT: RE: File descriptor 5 is held open). Best leave this particular fd alone.

Using exec

An exec <filename command redirects stdin to a file. From that point on, all stdin comes from that file, rather than its normal source (usually keyboard input). This provides a method of reading a file line by line and possibly parsing each line of input using sed and/or awk.

Example 20-1. Redirecting stdin using exec

#!/bin/bash # Redirecting stdin using 'exec'. exec 6<&0 # Link file descriptor #6 with stdin. # Saves stdin. exec < data-file # stdin replaced by file "data-file" read a1 # Reads first line of file "data-file". read a2 # Reads second line of file "data-file." echo echo "Following lines read from file." echo "-------------------------------" echo $a1 echo $a2 echo; echo; echo exec 0<&6 6<&- # Now restore stdin from fd #6, where it had been saved, #+ and close fd #6 ( 6<&- ) to free it for other processes to use. # # <&6 6<&- also works. echo -n "Enter data " read b1 # Now "read" functions as expected, reading from normal stdin. echo "Input read from stdin." echo "----------------------" echo "b1 = $b1" echo exit 0

Similarly, an exec >filename command redirects stdout to a designated file. This sends all command output that would normally go to stdout to that file.

exec N > filename affects the entire script or current shell. Redirection in the PID of the script or shell from that point on has changed. However . . . N > filename affects only the newly-forked process, not the entire script or shell. Thank you, Ahmed Darwish, for pointing this out.

Example 20-2. Redirecting stdout using exec

#!/bin/bash # reassign-stdout.sh LOGFILE=logfile.txt exec 6>&1 # Link file descriptor #6 with stdout. # Saves stdout. exec > $LOGFILE # stdout replaced with file "logfile.txt". # ----------------------------------------------------------- # # All output from commands in this block sent to file $LOGFILE. echo -n "Logfile: " date echo "-------------------------------------" echo echo "Output of \"ls -al\" command" echo ls -al echo; echo echo "Output of \"df\" command" echo df # ----------------------------------------------------------- # exec 1>&6 6>&- # Restore stdout and close file descriptor #6. echo echo "== stdout now restored to default == " echo ls -al echo exit 0

Example 20-3. Redirecting both stdin and stdout in the same script with exec

#!/bin/bash # upperconv.sh # Converts a specified input file to uppercase. E_FILE_ACCESS=70 E_WRONG_ARGS=71 if [ ! -r "$1" ] # Is specified input file readable? then echo "Can't read from input file!" echo "Usage: $0 input-file output-file" exit $E_FILE_ACCESS fi # Will exit with same error #+ even if input file ($1) not specified (why?). if [ -z "$2" ] then echo "Need to specify output file." echo "Usage: $0 input-file output-file" exit $E_WRONG_ARGS fi exec 4<&0 exec < $1 # Will read from input file. exec 7>&1 exec > $2 # Will write to output file. # Assumes output file writable (add check?). # ----------------------------------------------- cat - | tr a-z A-Z # Uppercase conversion. # ^^^^^ # Reads from stdin. # ^^^^^^^^^^ # Writes to stdout. # However, both stdin and stdout were redirected. # Note that the 'cat' can be omitted. # ----------------------------------------------- exec 1>&7 7>&- # Restore stout. exec 0<&4 4<&- # Restore stdin. # After restoration, the following line prints to stdout as expected. echo "File \"$1\" written to \"$2\" as uppercase conversion." exit 0

I/O redirection is a clever way of avoiding the dreaded inaccessible variables within a subshell problem.

Example 20-4. Avoiding a subshell

#!/bin/bash # avoid-subshell.sh # Suggested by Matthew Walker. Lines=0 echo cat myfile.txt | while read line; do { echo $line (( Lines++ )); # Incremented values of this variable #+ inaccessible outside loop. # Subshell problem. } done echo "Number of lines read = $Lines" # 0 # Wrong! echo "------------------------" exec 3<> myfile.txt while read line <&3 do { echo "$line" (( Lines++ )); # Incremented values of this variable #+ accessible outside loop. # No subshell, no problem. } done exec 3>&- echo "Number of lines read = $Lines" # 8 echo exit 0 # Lines below not seen by script. $ cat myfile.txt Line 1. Line 2. Line 3. Line 4. Line 5. Line 6. Line 7. Line 8.

推荐阅读:

http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/io-redirection.html
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/x17974.html

http://bbs.chinaunix.net/thread-484163-1-1.html