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I just used a command ls -l > ~/ls_output in my /usr/bin directory and I'm not sure what happened. The terminal accepted my command but I don't know what happened to the output or where it went. I think I may have redirected the output to a new directory called ls_output but I'm not sure and I'm also unclear on how ~ works in Bash.

Any advice?

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~ expands to $HOME, your home directory, such as /home/justin or /home/muru.

So ls -l > ~/ls_output will create a file in your home directory, redirecting the output to the file at ~/ls_output (not a directory), creating a new file if necessary and raising an error if it can't.

Do ls -l ~/ls_output to verify that the file was created.

Do cat ~/ls_output to see the contents.

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  • Once again muru, I really appreciate the help! I just tried "cat ~/ls_output" and was able to view the contents. However when I try to see this file in a list (just to verify) using my "ls" command in the current directory, I can't seem to find it. I created this file in my "/usr/bin" directory, so shouldn't it be in the "ls" list somewhere?
    – Justin
    Sep 21, 2014 at 20:42
  • @Justin you ran the command in /usr/bin, but as I say in the second sentence, the file is created in your home directory (the ~/ls_output expands to /home/justin/ls_output and the full path is used). You will see it in the ls output if you do ls ~.
    – muru
    Sep 21, 2014 at 20:44
  • Ok, I think I'm following you. Does the "~" and "/" cause it to be created there?
    – Justin
    Sep 21, 2014 at 20:45
  • @Justin yes, because that specifies the path of the target file. Without a path and just a file name, the current directory will be used.
    – muru
    Sep 21, 2014 at 20:49

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