In Bash sometimes we want to save the output of a command to a file. Many times just selecting the output on the display, copy and paste into a file will do. Other times we need something more.

Bash doesn’t keep a log of the previous output, but we can re-execute the last command and save the new output to a file with one of the following commands:

$(!!) > output.txt

The standard output stream will be redirected to the file only, it will not be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, it gets overwritten.

$(!!) >> output.txt

The standard output stream will be redirected to the file only, it will not be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, the new data will get appended to the end of the file.

$(!!) 2> output.txt

The standard error stream will be redirected to the file only, it will not be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, it gets overwritten.

$(!!) 2>> output.txt

The standard error stream will be redirected to the file only, it will not be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, the new data will get appended to the end of the file.

$(!!) &> output.txt

Both the standard output and standard error stream will be redirected to the file only, nothing will be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, it gets overwritten.

$(!!) &>> output.txt

Both the standard output and standard error stream will be redirected to the file only, nothing will be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, the new data will get appended to the end of the file.

$(!!) | tee output.txt

The standard output stream will be copied to the file, it will still be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, it gets overwritten.

$(!!) | tee -a output.txt

The standard output stream will be copied to the file, it will still be visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, the new data will get appended to the end of the file.

$(!!) |& tee output.txt

Both the standard output and standard error streams will be copied to the file while still being visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, it gets overwritten.

$(!!) |& tee -a output.txt

Both the standard output and standard error streams will be copied to the file while still being visible in the terminal. If the file already exists, the new data will get appended to the end of the file.