For instance, if I have a .pl script, or .php script, I could simply execute on my terminal Code: ]# php /path/to/my/script.php and make the code executed. So, adding a cron job to run every 5 minutes for this script, can be written like this: Code: 5 * * * * php /path/to/my/script.php And the question is: what is the difference between that statement, and, say: Code: 5 * * * * /usr/bin/php /path/to/my/script.php > /dev/null 2>&1 I've searched the web for a detailed explanation but, I cannot find anything. Would you explain me this please? Or show me a page with this issue. Thanks a lot.
as far as i know this redirects ( > ) any output from script.php to /dev/null ... which is nowhere (like a black hole) , and stderr ( 2 ) is redirected to ( >&1 ) stdout which is already redirected to nowhere , basicly it makes your script run silently and doesn't generate any output or error log/file i hope i'm not mistaken
