# Ambiguous output redirect error
**URL:** https://community.unix.com/t/ambiguous-output-redirect-error/226857
**Category:** Shell Programming and Scripting
**Created:** [January 7, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/ambiguous-output-redirect-error/226857 "2009-01-07T14:48:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pareshan](https://community.unix.com/u/pareshan)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/ambiguous-output-redirect-error/226857/1 "2009-01-07T14:48:05Z")
Hi everyone, While I was trying to do
DATE=`date +"%Y%m%d_%H%M%S"`
STARTLOG=$TUXSTDDIR/start\_$DATE.log
tmboot -y \> $STARTLOG 2\>&1
I got an error i.e. Ambiguous output redirect error. Here the first part is to boot the account so there is nothing wrong with that. I have defined the startlog also but I dint understand why I am having problem here.
I dint get what that error means. I will appreciate any help to make this right.
thanks alot
---
### Author:  [@cfajohnson](https://community.unix.com/u/cfajohnson)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/ambiguous-output-redirect-error/226857/2 "2009-01-07T17:41:21Z")
```nohighlight
tmboot -y > "$STARTLOG" 2>&1
```
---
### Author:  [@pareshan](https://community.unix.com/u/pareshan)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/ambiguous-output-redirect-error/226857/3 "2009-01-07T17:52:27Z")
That really dint change anything. Its the same error message again
---
### Author:  [@reborg](https://community.unix.com/u/reborg)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/ambiguous-output-redirect-error/226857/4 "2009-01-07T17:52:57Z")
That is a csh/tcsh error but you have used bourne redirect syntax.
The csh/tcsh syntax would be:
```nohighlight
command >& logfile
```
---
### Author:  [@cfajohnson](https://community.unix.com/u/cfajohnson)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/ambiguous-output-redirect-error/226857/5 "2009-01-07T19:18:42Z")
> [@reborg](#):
>
> That is a csh/tcsh error
That's not only [t]csh:
```plaintext
$ q="we rt"
$ echo x > $q
bash: $q: ambiguous redirect
```
---
### Author:  [@reborg](https://community.unix.com/u/reborg)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/ambiguous-output-redirect-error/226857/6 "2009-01-07T19:31:33Z")
> [@cfajohnson](#):
>
> [indent]
> That's not only [t]csh:
Actually it is when written as posted by the OP. The uppercase 'A' is the indicator for this hence I took this to be a copy+paste.
---
### Author:  [@pareshan](https://community.unix.com/u/pareshan)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2009, 10:56am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/ambiguous-output-redirect-error/226857/7 "2009-01-08T10:56:42Z")
yeah you are right its c shell error. i thought im in ksh but actually im in c shell so when i used
cmd \> & file its working.
thanks alot