7.16. Standard Input, Output, and Error

In the previous section, we were redirecting streams known as standard input and standard output. When using a < redirection operator, you are telling the operating system that for just this one command it should ignore the standard input device (which is your keyboard) and instead take its input from a file.

Likewise, when using the > operator you are telling Ubuntu to ignore the standard output device (which is your monitor or, more precisely, the Terminal window) and instead send its output to the supplied file.