In the command 'll asdfkjsdfhk > file.txt 2>&1', what does the '2>&1' portion do?

• A. Redirects stdout to file
• B. Redirects stderr to file
• C. Redirects both stdout and stderr to the same destination
• D. No effect

Answer: (C)

Both stdout and stderr are separate data streams for a process. The redirection > file.txt sends the standard output (stdout) to that file. The construct 2>&1 tells the shell to redirect file descriptor 2 (stderr) to wherever file descriptor 1 (stdout) is currently going. Since stdout was just redirected to file.txt, 2>&1 makes stderr go to the same destination, so both streams end up in file.txt. The order matters: if 2>&1 came before the stdout redirection, you’d end up with stderr going to the terminal while stdout goes to the file.