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I've been using pipes and redirects for a long time and just realized that I don't know exactly how they are different. I just know that if you want to store the output in a file, then you use >. Otherwise most of the time you just use |. Can someone explain the difference between pipes and redirects?

Cfinley
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tony_sid
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1 Answers1

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The both do the same basic thing; they redirect a file descriptor of the process executed. The difference lies in how. A pipe connects the stdout of one process to the stdin of another, whereas redirection redirects from/to a file (> from stdout to a file, < from a file to stdin).

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
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    The distinction sort of blurs in Linux and other systems that have /dev/fd. For example, if you run echo foo > >(somecommand), it will expand to echo foo > /dev/fd/3. It's still redirection, but to a process. – u1686_grawity Apr 30 '11 at 18:43