minus=- # standard input fd=0 exec 3<&$fd read line <&3 echo from stdin: $line # close fd 3 exec 3<&${minus} # should give `bad fd', but exact error messages vary # read line <&3 # standard output fd=1 exec 4>&$fd echo to stdout >&4 exec 4>&$minus # should give `bad fd', but exact error messages vary # echo to stdout >&4 unset fd # these are ambiguous redirects exec 3<&$fd exec 4>&$fd exec 3>&1 4>&2 exec >&/tmp/err-and-out echo to stdout echo to stderr >&2 exec 1>&3 2>&4 echo /tmp/err-and-out: cat /tmp/err-and-out rm /tmp/err-and-out fd=/tmp/err-and-out exec >&$fd echo to stdout echo to stderr >&2 exec 1>&3 2>&4 echo /tmp/err-and-out: cat /tmp/err-and-out rm /tmp/err-and-out