hiding output in shell scripts

[Brando569]

hey im writing a shell script to install apps that i use alot im new to writing them and is there any way that i can hide the output of everything (something equivalent to @echo off in batch programming) and only see stuff in the terminal either when i use echo or when theres an error? and one other thing, is there a command for apt-get or another program of the like that will install the dependencies of a deb package automatically?

[darth_vector]

you can redirect stdout to /dev/null by adding

1>/dev/null

at the end of each line of your script that will produce output.

you can redirect errors the same way by adding

2>/dev/null

[nagilum]

Most commands do have an option to turn off normal output to the console, like '-q' or something like that. Check the manpages of the commands you use.

I would not recommend using the '2>/dev/null' as darth_vector described since you will miss all errors. If you do not want any output but still detect errors redirecting the errors to a logfile with '2>error.log' is a better way. In addition you might want to use the bash builtin command 'set -e' to assure the script terminates immediately when one of the commands in it fails. See 'man bash' for more details.

[darth_vector]

I would not recommend using the '2>/dev/null' as darth_vector described since you will miss all errors. If you do not want any output but still detect errors redirecting the errors to a logfile with '2>error.log' is a better way.

good point!

[Brando569]

thanks for the help guys i found the switches, its not as as clean as a batch file could be but oh well, linux is better then windows...

is there a command for apt-get or another program of the like that will install the dependencies of a deb package automatically?

just to clarify what i meant, is there a way for apt-get to install dependencies for a package that is local?
ex. issuing the cmd for installing superkaramba w/out issuing the comands before it for the installation of the dependencies