If you redirect the output to the NUL device using dir file.xxx > nul, you will still see the error message part of the output, like this: File Not Found The command dir file.xxx (where file.xxx does not exist) will display the following output: Volume in drive F is Candy Cane Volume Serial Number is 34EC-0876 This selects the second output stream which is STDERR. In order to redirect STDERR you have to specify '2>' for the redirection symbol. When you redirect console output using the " data-type="undefined" target="_blank">' symbol, you are only redirecting STDOUT. The regular output is sent to Standard Out (STDOUT) and the error messages are sent to Standard Error (STDERR). Output from a console (Command Prompt) application or command is often sent to two separate streams. This is because error messages are often sent to the Standard Error stream instead of the Standard Out stream. When redirecting output from an application using the " data-type="undefined" target="_blank">' symbol, error messages still print to the screen. In the hopes that this information is helpful to others, I'm posting it here.įrom MSKB110930 Redirecting Error Messages from Command Prompt: STDERR/STDOUT Summary While the accepted answer to this question is correct, it really doesn't do much to explain why it works, and since the syntax is not immediately clear I did a quick google to find out what was actually going on.
