In Bash shell, it is possible to redirect output and errors of a command to /dev/null in order to discard the command’s standard output and standard error streams. This can be useful to suppress any unwanted output, such as debugging information, or to run a command in the background without displaying output.
To redirect the standard output and standard error streams of a command to /dev/null, use the following syntax:
command > /dev/null 2>&1
Here, command is the command whose output and errors are to be discarded. The > symbol redirects the standard output stream of the command to /dev/null, while 2>&1 redirects the standard error stream to the same location as the standard output stream (i.e., to /dev/null).
For example, to run the ls command and discard its output and errors, you can use:
ls > /dev/null 2>&1
This will execute the ls command and redirect its output and errors to /dev/null, effectively discarding them.