[SOLVED] What does "&" at the end of a linux command mean?

Issue

I am a system administrator and I have been asked to run a linux script to clean the system.

The command is this:

perl script.pl > output.log &

so this command is ending with a & sign, is there any special significance of it?

I have basic knowledge of shell but I have never seen this before.

Solution

The & makes the command run in the background.

From man bash:

If a command is terminated by the control operator &, the shell executes the command in the background in a subshell. The shell does not wait for the command to finish, and the return status is 0.

Answered By - mgarciaisaia

Answer Checked By - Marilyn (WPSolving Volunteer)