Hidden Oracle Data Pump Command Line Parameter to Silence Output

While writing a script which involves using the Oracle Data Pump Import and Export utilities, I required the output of each utility to be disabled. Of course, I could redirect the output using the redirection shell feature in Linux/Unix systems, but there had to be an easier and more transportable method.

Oracle does not have such a parameter documented, but I have found that there is an undocumented parameter. The SILENT parameter will silence all output and errors to the running program. Below is an example:

expdp username@orcl FULL=yes SILENT=all