How to Store Standard Error to a Variable in Bash

In Bash, you can store the standard error output of a command to a variable by using the `2>&1` operator and the `$()` command substitution syntax. Here `2>` redirects the error message to &1`, that represent to standard output. In the case of bash shell works as the standard output device.

• For example, to store the standard error output of the `ls` command to a variable named errors, you can use the following command:

  errors=$(ls non-existent-file 2>&1) 
  

  

  Alternatively, you can use the `$?` special parameter to store the exit status of a command to a variable. The exit status is a numeric value that indicates whether the command was successful or not. A value of `0` indicates success, while a non-zero value indicates an error.

• For example, to store the exit status of the `ls` command to a variable named status, you can use the following command:

  ls non-existent-file 
  status=$? 
  

• You can then use the `$status` variable to check the exit status of the `ls` command and take appropriate action based on the result. For example:
  #!/usr/bin/env bash # Pur your commands here if [ $status -ne 0 ]; then echo "Last command failed with an error." fi

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  #!/usr/bin/env bash   # Pur your commands here if [ $status -ne 0 ]; then   echo "Last command failed with an error." fi

Keep in mind that the `$()` command substitution syntax allows you to execute a command and substitute its output in place. The `2>` operator redirects the standard error output of the command to the `&1` stream, which is the standard output stream. This allows you to capture both the standard output and standard error output of the command in a single variable.