title: How can the *shell command output* buffer be kept in the background?
body: <p>How can I tell emacs not to pop up the <code>*Shell Command Output*</code> buffer when calling a shell command like this?</p>
  
  <pre class="lang-lisp prettyprint-override"><code>(shell-command MY_COMMAND)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Currently emacs splits the current window into two, showing the (mostly irrelevant) output buffer.  To me it would be completely sufficient if I could look it up later if I feel like it.</p>