Before a command is executed, its input and output may be redirected using a special notation interpreted
by the shell. Redirection may also be used to open and close files for the current shell execution
environment. The following redirection operators may precede or appear anywhere within a simple command
or may follow a command. Redirections are processed in the order they appear, from left to right.
Redirecting Output
Redirection of output causes the file whose name results from the expansion of word to be opened for
writing on file descriptor n, or the standard output (file descriptor 1) if n is not specified. If the
file does not exist it is created; if it does exist it is truncated to zero size.
The general format for redirecting output is:
[n]>word
If the redirection operator is >, and the noclobber option to the set builtin has been enabled, the
redirection will fail if the file whose name results from the expansion of word exists and is a regular
file. If the redirection operator is >|, or the redirection operator is > and the noclobber option to
the set builtin command is not enabled, the redirection is attempted even if the file named by word
exists.
|