system function wont redirect output

[Steve]

hey, in my program im just trying to redirect the commands output but i
get the error:
sh: line 1: 1: command not found

code:
$return = system("tar czvf $tar $files > $logfile >2&1");

if i take out the > $logfile >2&1 , it works fine but i get that error
with it in, but the werid thing is it did work before this is very
puzzling as i dont believe i changed anyhting and it did indeed work
before, now as i understand it Learning Perl 3rd Edition says if its a
simple cmd like ls then perl will just excute it if its anyhting more
complicated the shell will, but yeah i need to redirct the output any1
know why this isnt working as it should right?
thanks.

[Cranbo]

hey, in my program im just trying to redirect the commands output but i

code:
$return = system("tar czvf $tar $files > $logfile >2&1");

I am new to this, but AFAIK 'system' takes an *array* as its only argument:

my $args = ("tar", "czvf", "$tar", "$files", ">$logfile>2&1");
$return = system($args);

But that's just a guess.
-rob

[Matt]

I am new to this, but AFAIK 'system' takes an *array* as its only argument:

my $args = ("tar", "czvf", "$tar", "$files", ">$logfile>2&1");
$return = system($args);

But that's just a guess.
-rob

I figure this has been solved by the submitter at some time in the last 8 years ... but for completeness ....

system will take either a string or a list/array ... if a string is supplied it the system command will check the contents and determine if any shell meta-chars are included in it (.e.g. > < & ; ). If they are then the string is executed in a sub-shell, if they are not as simple exec is done...

So, for redirections it has to be the single-string version of the system command ...

But back to the original issue ... I reckon its a typo .... the syntax for redirecting STDERR into the same place as STDOUT is 2>&1 NOT >2&1

The typo causes the string is being mis-interpreted as 'redirect STDOUT into a file called '2' and put the job in the background, and then execute another command called '1'....
j