Discarding output with the /dev/null file
The /dev/null file is a special file. This file has a unique property: it is always empty. Any data sent to /dev/null is discarded. This is a useful feature when you run a program or command that generates output that you want to ignore.
For example, you have a program named myprog that
accepts input from the screen and generates messages while it is running that
you would rather not see on your screen. To read input from the file myscript and
discard the standard output messages, type the following:
myprog < myscript >/dev/nullIn this example, myprog uses the file myscript as input, and all standard output is discarded.