>& redirection not working within csh script

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

I'm having a strange problem with basic

>&

output redirection to a simple log file in csh. When I run this particular output redirection on the command line, it works, but then when I run the same output redirection command

>&

in my c shell script, I get a blank log file. Nothing is output to the screen, either.

It gets even stranger because the

>&

output redirection works within my c shell script on Redhat Linux but not when I run my c shell script on my current operating system, CentOS V. 2.16.0 release 5.8.

Is there some system variable that needs to be set in CentOS V. 2.16.0 release 5.8, or why does

program $inputvar1 $inputvar2 $inputvar3 >& output.log

work in every other situation (both command line and running in my c shell script on some computers) except when running my csh script on CentOS V. 2.16.0 release 5.8? It should work the same within the cshell script on all computers, shouldn't it? And does anyone have a work-around that will successfully output to a log file in a csh script on CentOS V. 2.16.0 release 5.8?

EDIT: I was thinking maybe some system variable in CentOS V. 2.16.0 release 5.8 is buffering output from csh? I have no idea, though.

2

Just a clue here

3

I've already read through that, thanks. I am looking for a solution to the redirect problem I'm having.

4

Does your C shell script start with #!/bin/csh ?
Furthermore, redirection in C shell might fail if the redirected expression exceeds a certain level of complexity.

5

Not necessarily. Even computers running exactly the same operating system may not be running the same version of csh - it's just an installed program, which may or may not be the one that shipped with the OS.

6

Does anyone else has any familiarity with this problem? Namely why basic text output will redirect with >& on the command line / console but not within my cshell script on this particular version of CentOS?

MadeInGermany, yes my script begins with #!/bin/csh and my program doesn't make complex output - the output is very basic - 3 lines of text - the first line is blank and then the second 2 lines have text output.

>& works in my cshell script on several other computers with different OS/versions but not on this version and I can't figure out why. I need some way to redirect output within my cshell script that doesn't involve software upgrades/installs (I work at a corporation and don't have install permissions).