title: In Windows, what's the difference between 2<&1 and 2>&1?
body: <p>The examples and explanations in this page are leaving me confused:</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/redirection.mspx?mfr=true" rel="noreferrer">http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/redirection.mspx?mfr=true</a></p>
  
  <p>Is there any practical difference between using 2&lt;&amp;1 and 2>&amp;1? The second form (2>&amp;1) is familiar to me, from working with the Unix shell.</p>
  
  <p>The page linked above has:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>To find File.txt, and then redirect handle 1 (that is, STDOUT) and handle 2 (that is, STDERR) to the Search.txt, type:<br>
    findfile file.txt>search.txt 2&lt;&amp;1</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>and also</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>To redirect all of the output, including handle 2 (that is, STDERR), from the ipconfig command to handle 1 (that is, STDOUT), and then redirect the ouput to Output.log, type:<br>
    ipconfig.exe>>output.log 2>&amp;1</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>In the end, is there any difference in the results? </p>