How can the *shell command output* buffer be kept in the background?

Question

How can I tell emacs not to pop up the `*Shell Command Output*` buffer when calling a shell command like this? ``` (shell-command MY_COMMAND) ``` Currently emacs splits the current window into two, showing the (mostly irrelevant) output buffer. To me it would be completely sufficient if I could look it up later if I feel like it.

Accepted Answer

Maybe using `shell-command` was the root of the problem. I think I found a solution with `call-process` which works, although there may be a more elegant way:

```
(call-process-shell-command
 "cat ~/.emacs.d/init.el"
 nil "*Shell Command Output*" t
 )
```

How can the shell command output buffer be kept in the background?

Solution

Problem