Possible in bash to conditionally redirect output to either stdout or /dev/null?

Question

Use-case:

I am writing a script that will accept --simulate which acts as a dry run and only prints the command rather than running it. When running normally (i.e. not with --simulate), the command that is run generates a LOT of output on the console, which I would ideally like to be able to hide.

Current

Currently, I am doing something along the lines of this (simplified a bit) and is running in a loop to process several compressed files that are in a proprietary archive format related to a windows game.

# flag variable
mode='';
if [[ "--simulate" == "$1" ]]; then
    mode="echo";
fi

# command is a long wine command that takes a mess of arguments
# and generates a LOT of output
${mode} command

Where I am Stuck

As I was thinking about changing ${mode} command to ${mode} command 2>&1 >/dev/null to avoid the console noise, I realized this would also have the effect of sending the echo output from --simulate to /dev/null as well.

I am aware that one option would be to just have an IF block / test and maintain multiple copies of the statement but curious if there is a better way.

Thought there might possibly be some way to do something like the following but couldn't find it on google / here so figured I'd ask just in case.

# flag variable
mode='';
redirectOutputTo='/dev/null';
if [[ "--simulate" == "$1" ]]; then
    mode="echo";
    redirectOutputTo="stdout";
fi

# If this is run as is, it will just create a file named 'stdout' in the script folder
# bc I assume that is not the real name. Ditto for using '&1'; just creates a file.
${mode} command 2>&1 >${redirectOutputTo}

Bash / OS Versions

if it makes a difference, here is what my system is running (Mint 19.3 x64):

$ bash --version|head -1
GNU bash, version 4.4.20(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)

$ uname -vo
#56~18.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jun 24 16:17:03 UTC 2020 GNU/Linux

Answer 1

Use a shell function:

runmaybe () {
  if [[ $mode == "--simulate" ]]
  then echo $@
  else $@ 2>&1 > /dev/null
  fi
}

and this is a proof of concept:

#!/bin/bash

filethatwillsavestderr="/tmp/foo"
filethatwillsavestdout="/tmp/bar"

mode="--simulate" #switch this to another mode to see the effect

runmaybe () {
  if [[ $mode == "--simulate" ]]
  then echo "I should run '$@' but i'm not really doing it"
  else $@ > $filethatwillsavestdout 2> $filethatwillsavestderr
  fi
}

runmaybe ls