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I would like to redirect the output generated from a background application in Linux to /dev/null.

I am using kate text editor and it prints all the debug messages on the terminal which I would like to redirect to /dev/null.

Any idea how to do it ?

Thanks

>/dev/null 2>&1 means redirect stdout to /dev/null AND stderr to the place where stdout points at that time

If you want stderr to occur on console and only stdout going to /dev/null you can use:

yourcommand 2>&1 > /dev/null
In this case stderr is redirected to stdout (e.g. your console) and afterwards the original stdout is redirected to /dev/null
If the program should not terminate you can use:
nohup yourcommand &
Without any parameter all output lands in nohup.out
                If this is the last command in a bash file, one thing that I noticed is that it leaves the command console that called the file without a prompt.
– Dennis
                Mar 10, 2013 at 17:28
                @elig redirecting output of an already running application is not possible imo, or at least not that easily, because the redirection via dup2() happens immediately after fork() but before exec*(). Once exec*() has executed the program, the shell has not the capability to redirect the output of that process. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't know about a shell that has implemented such functionality.
– evildead
                Oct 17, 2019 at 13:12
                What is the difference between yourcommand 2>&1 > /dev/null and yourcommand > /dev/null? Both seem to redirect stderr to stdout.
– avriis
                Dec 17, 2020 at 11:03
                The manual and preference referred to is found here: gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Redirections.html (at section 3.6.4)
– brokkr
                Aug 22, 2021 at 17:06
        
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