With regards to piping commands, what are the greater than (>) and less than (<) symbols called?

Question

On linux at least, and I think windows/dos shell too you can use > to "pipe" output into a file. Something like:

cat myfile.txt > mightAsWellCP.txt

What is that piece of syntax sugar called? This is a "pipe": | so what do we call the > and < (and << and >> while were at it.)

"Piping" refers to using the output of one program as the input of another. > doesn't pipe output; it redirects it. As for what the symbols are called, I usually call them "less-than" and "greater-than", even though that's not how they're being used. (Or in print, I just call them < and >.)
@BrianAdkins is correct - see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redirection_(computing)

BrianAdkins · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-28 01:08:07Z

up vote 4 down vote accepted

I usually refer to all four variations (< << > >>) as a "redirect" when speaking to folks that I know will understand.

answered Sep 28 '12 at 1:08

BrianAdkins
50519

rbm · Answer 2 · 2012-09-28 01:52:11Z

up vote 2 down vote

answered Sep 28 '12 at 1:52

rbm
211

2 Answers