Learn the tee Command in Linux: Redirect and Log Output Easily

The Linux Crash Course series on Learn Linux TV will teach you an important Linux-related skill or concept in each video. In this episode, Jay will cover the tee command, which lets you see and save output at the same time!

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*🕚 Time Codes*
00:00 - Intro
01:37 - Quick refresh
03:13 - Basic usage of the tee command
05:01 - Using tee with reports and lists
07:03 - Writing output to multiple files
08:15 - Permissions matter with tee
09:29 - Using append mode with the tee command

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[pravinkumarone]

No kidding, I was just searching to learn the tee command on the browser and the next thought was to search search "tee command learn linux tv" and i see that the video is uploaded just now. Isn't this a next level co incidence.

[juanmacias]

0:38 I was not ready for the Mr. T reference HAHAHA

[marioawad]

An essential use for the tee command instead of output redirection is when you want to modify a file that requires root privileges, especially from within scripts.

For example, *sudo echo 'Hello World' >> /tmp/example/root_file.conf* will not work, returns permission denied, but this will *echo 'Hello World' | sudo tee --append /tmp/example/root_file.conf*

If you do not use the tee command then you'll have to login into a root shell to properly execute the first command.

If you know of any other or easier way please share.

[QHPRN]

Great vid, thanks for the info.
(Thanks for the puns for us oldsters at the opening, btw.)
As far as sharing the channel, I did just that earlier today with someone self-proclaiming himself a linux noob and looking for more info.
Keep up the great work.

[stevefiorito]

Just finished watching your video, and do not know how I would use the tee command feature. You might consider giving some practical examples to how a typical Linux User might incorporate this tool into the regular workload ... . I just couldn't think of anything in my daily workload where this tool would be useful.

[cleightthejw]

@Jay

Yeah, caught the A-team lines but then remembered his real name is 'Mr. T' too! :) Well, not his 'real name' just not his A Team show name'

[tubeDude]

At 5:16, that's true for Mint and Raspberry Pi At 6:55, you will get a warning from apt, it's not crazy about the tee command !

[ringo]

Oh, I see. So the redirection command (ls > file1.txt) does the same thing, but tee allows you to pipe output to multiple files at once?

[TheCârtiță]

How can i use the packages.log to get all package names and paste them into a command somewhere else?

[josephglover]

Where's the "sudo nala install --install-suggests coffee" t-shirt?

[jeremiahbullfrog]

Yes How do you "tee" the stderr stream? For example, I want to see all the output, but also send the results and errors to two files:

find / -name '*.log' | tee find-results.txt | tee-errors find-errors.txt

In this case "tee-errors" is the missing link

Thanks in advance

[aermacchi]

Sorry to say this, but you kinda missed the point of tee. Its general use comes from commands like ls -R | tee file | grep n Hence the name.