what does the operation '>&' mean in a shell script

hi, all,

i saw a syntax like this

usr/local/mpiexec -np 8 /home/XXXX/program_exe >& ./temp/out

the output will be put into ./temp/out.

I want to know the meaning of the operation symbol '>&'.

Thanks

It redirects standard error as well as standard output to the file in question.

See the manual page of your shell for detailed information about redirection operators.

in that case,
shouldn't that be as
>1 2>&1

It should, but it's available as a shorthand at least in bash. The manual discourages this use. I imagine it's offered for compatibility with older shells.