| layout | title | subtitle | minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
page |
Extra Unix Shell Material |
Streams |
5 |
- The student should be able to split STDOUT effectively, thus logging and monitoring a process.
The Unix command tee duplicates STDOUT and sends the second copy to a file.
Consider the input/output stream model we've already discussed as a system of pipes. tee sensibly splits the flow of information, allowing one copy to be written to disk and leaving one copy available for a subsequent command in the chain.
Where might this be useful? For instance, you can use this to both passively log and actively monitor a compilation or a data processing step.
Because tee preserves STDOUT, it allows recovery from actions that overwhelm the buffer of your shell's window as well, which is often limited.