bash - record output after program execution

Question

I know that I can redirect stdout to a file before running a script, but is there a way to access the whole output of a program that already ran? When the output is too long it gets cut out by the terminal window and I can't see the initial prints.

Answer 1

There are a couple of suggestions:

1. increase the number of retained lines in your terminal window. On all of the systems I can, I usually have it set to something like 10,000 lines (or the max possible is less).
2. (probably slightly more practical) When you know you might want to be able to capture output, start a new bash shell running and pipe the output to a file with tee (bash | tee record.txt). Any output from commands run in that shell will be put into the file "record.txt". Unfortunately, it does not capture input (including the commands you type) and shell prompts.
3. (better) Before executing anything you think you might want to safe, use script. This will start capturing both your input and program output. When you are finished with stuff, exit the shell or type Ctrl-D. Note: the output generated by script may not be written until 'script' is finished.