Is there a 'Y' (i.e. branch) version of a command pipe?

[Modulok]

On 1/8/11, Modulok <modulok at gmail.com> wrote:
> List,
>
> Is there a command that lets me send standard input to two different
> places at the same time? (i.e. non-sequentially.) Think of it like a
> pipe character, but with a 'Y' branch instead. Basically, I want to
> record standard input to a log file, but also send it to another
> command for processing.
>
> For example, let's assume we have a command called 'branch' and it
> copies standard input to the standard input of all arguments. We could
> use it like this:
>
> cat foo.txt | branch '/bin/echo > log1.txt' '/bin/echo > log2.txt'
>
> The first 'cat' would read the file, pass it to our theoretical
> 'branch' command, which would then start two subprocesses, passing the
> input to both of them. The result result would be two copies of the
> file. (Obviously making copies of files is not my primary goal, just
> an example.)
>
> I guess another way of explaining it would be two write the same stdin
> to two named pipes and then have two different programs read from each
> pipe, getting the same output.
>
> I can probably write something in Python, but thought I'd ask first.
> Thanks!
> -Modulok-
>

Thanks guys! I'll look into the tee(1) command as suggested.

You guys rock :)
-Modulok-