How to store standard error in a variable

Question

Let\'s say I have a script like the following:

useless.sh

echo \"This Is Error\" 1>&2
echo \"This Is Output\" 

And I have an

Answer 1

Here's how I did it :

#
# $1 - name of the (global) variable where the contents of stderr will be stored
# $2 - command to be executed
#
captureStderr()
{
    local tmpFile=$(mktemp)

    $2 2> $tmpFile

    eval "$1=$(< $tmpFile)"

    rm $tmpFile
}

Usage example :

captureStderr err "./useless.sh"

echo -$err-

It does use a temporary file. But at least the ugly stuff is wrapped in a function.