What does outputting to /dev/null accomplish in bash scripts?

Question

Oftentimes I run into small bash scripts that use this sort of syntax in if statements:

"some command" > /dev/null 2>&1

What is the purpose of outputting to /dev/null like that, and what does the 2>&1 mean?

It always seems to work but I'd like to know what its doing.

Answer 1

>/dev/null = redirect the command standard output to the null device, it's a special device which discards the information written to it

2 >&1 = redirect the standard error stream to the standard output stream (stderr = 2, stdout = 1)

In practice it prevents any ouput from the command (both stdout and stderr) from being displayed. It's used when you don't care about the command output.

Answer 2

STDIN is represented by 0, STDOUT by 1, and STDERR by 2.

/dev/null is the bit-bucket: the place where you dump anything you don't need.

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So, the STDOUT is redirected to the bit-bucket(trash) and the STDERR is redirected to where the STDOUT is located: the bit-bucket.

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You can also do this:

>/dev/null 2>/dev/null