Question

I am trying to implement something which my logic says can’t be done. But I need your help to understand why can’t it be.

Short Version of Question

Is it possible to log stdout+stderr of a script in csh without using file redirection ( >& or tee ).

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Detailed Explanation of Question

I have a requirement with a csh script (script1) where I am not allowed to use file redirection.(I will give the reason in a while)
So that means I can’t use something like

echo just checking >& logfile

hence I can’t use this or tee to create my logfile.
I also have a another script (script2) which is a top level script.

I can either run script1 in standalone mode or through script2.

In either case i need to create a log(stdout+stderr) of script1 in logfile.

There are two possible(but not complete) option for that

write this line in script2

./script1 >& logfile

But then I can’t log script1 in logfile when script1 is run in standalone mode.

Another option is to use file redirections in script1 like this:

echo test starting >> logfile
echo test over

In this case thee are two disadvantages:
1) “test over” prints before “test starting” , i.e. the order of occurring of command logs is not certain.
2) It’s tedious to put >>& after every statement if I am intending to cover whole script.

Now is there any other way,I can get what I need. That is I can run script1 without file redirection and still get to log its stdout+stderr in logfile.

Answer 1

You mention csh, so this may not help you. On the other had, it may motivate you to stop using csh for scripts, a task for which it is notoriously inappropriate. In sh, you can simply do:

#!/bin/sh
exec > logfile 2>&1
echo foo

To write foo (and the output and errors of all subsequent commands) to the logfile