The simplest way to hide output is redirecting standard streams:

# Redirect both stdout and stderr to /dev/null
./your_application > /dev/null 2>&1

# Alternative syntax
./your_application &> /dev/null

# Only suppress stdout
./your_application > /dev/null

# Only suppress stderr
./your_application 2> /dev/null

When running processes in background:

nohup ./long_running_script.sh > /dev/null 2>&1 &

For more controlled execution:

exec 1>/dev/null
exec 2>/dev/null
./your_application

When you might need output later:

TEMP_LOG=$(mktemp)
./your_application > "$TEMP_LOG" 2>&1
# Process continues silently
# Access logs later if needed
cat "$TEMP_LOG"

For system services:

[Unit]
Description=My Silent Service

[Service]
ExecStart=/path/to/your_application
StandardOutput=null
StandardError=null

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Create reusable silent execution:

silent() {
    "$@" > /dev/null 2>&1
    return $?
}

silent ./your_application --with-args

When you need optional silencing:

#!/bin/bash
VERBOSE=false

if ! $VERBOSE; then
    exec 1>/dev/null
    exec 2>/dev/null
fi

# Rest of script...

---

When working with shell applications in Linux, there are several ways to suppress output. The most common methods involve redirection operators and special device files.

For complete output suppression (both stdout and stderr):

your_command > /dev/null 2>&1

To suppress only standard output:

your_command > /dev/null

To suppress only error output:

your_command 2> /dev/null

When dealing with scripts where you want to suppress output conditionally:

#!/bin/bash
VERBOSE=false

if [ "$VERBOSE" = false ]; then
    exec > /dev/null 2>&1
fi

# Rest of your script commands

For temporary suppression within a script:

{
    echo "This will be suppressed"
    some_command
} > /dev/null 2>&1

When working with subshells or command substitutions:

output=$(your_command 2>/dev/null)

Or to completely ignore the output:

$(your_command >/dev/null 2>&1)

For make commands:

make > /dev/null

For apt commands:

apt-get install package -qq  # -q for quiet, -qq for quieter

You can create a logging function that still suppresses normal output:

#!/bin/bash

log() {
    echo "$(date): $@" >> debug.log
}

main_command > /dev/null 2>&1 || log "Command failed with exit code $?"