Saving scan results in normal format

Nmap supports different formats for saving scan results. Depending on your needs, you can choose between a normal, XML, and grepable output. Normal mode saves the output as you see it on your screen, minus the runtime debugging information. This mode presents the findings in a well-structured and easy-to-understand manner.

This recipe shows you how to save the Nmap scan results to a file in normal mode.

How to do it...

To save the scan results to a file in the normal output format, add the option -oN <filename>. This option only affects the output and can be combined with any port or host scanning technique:

# nmap -F -oN scanme.txt scanme.nmap.org

After the scan is complete, the output should be saved now in the file scanme.txt:

$cat scanme.txt
# Nmap 6.02 scan initiated Thu Jun 28 23:16:32 2012 as: nmap -F -oN scanme.txt scanme.nmap.org
Nmap scan report for scanme.nmap.org (74.207.244.221)
Host is up (0.47s latency).
Not shown: 95 closed ports
PORT...