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Manpage of TEST

TEST

Section: FSF (1)
Updated: July 2001
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NAME

test - check file types and compare values  

SYNOPSIS

test EXPRESSION
[ EXPRESSION ]
test OPTION  

DESCRIPTION

Exit with the status determined by EXPRESSION.

--help
display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit

EXPRESSION is true or false and sets exit status. It is one of:

( EXPRESSION )
EXPRESSION is true
! EXPRESSION
EXPRESSION is false
EXPRESSION1 -a EXPRESSION2
both EXPRESSION1 and EXPRESSION2 are true
EXPRESSION1 -o EXPRESSION2
either EXPRESSION1 or EXPRESSION2 is true
[-n] STRING
the length of STRING is nonzero
-z STRING
the length of STRING is zero
STRING1 = STRING2
the strings are equal
STRING1 != STRING2
the strings are not equal
INTEGER1 -eq INTEGER2
INTEGER1 is equal to INTEGER2
INTEGER1 -ge INTEGER2
INTEGER1 is greater than or equal to INTEGER2
INTEGER1 -gt INTEGER2
INTEGER1 is greater than INTEGER2
INTEGER1 -le INTEGER2
INTEGER1 is less than or equal to INTEGER2
INTEGER1 -lt INTEGER2
INTEGER1 is less than INTEGER2
INTEGER1 -ne INTEGER2
INTEGER1 is not equal to INTEGER2
FILE1 -ef FILE2
FILE1 and FILE2 have the same device and inode numbers
FILE1 -nt FILE2
FILE1 is newer (modification date) than FILE2
FILE1 -ot FILE2
FILE1 is older than FILE2
-b FILE
FILE exists and is block special
-c FILE
FILE exists and is character special
-d FILE
FILE exists and is a directory
-e FILE
FILE exists
-f FILE
FILE exists and is a regular file
-g FILE
FILE exists and is set-group-ID
-h FILE
FILE exists and is a symbolic link (same as -L)
-G FILE
FILE exists and is owned by the effective group ID
-k FILE
FILE exists and has its sticky bit set
-L FILE
FILE exists and is a symbolic link (same as -h)
-O FILE
FILE exists and is owned by the effective user ID
-p FILE
FILE exists and is a named pipe
-r FILE
FILE exists and is readable
-s FILE
FILE exists and has a size greater than zero
-S FILE
FILE exists and is a socket
-t [FD]
file descriptor FD (stdout by default) is opened on a terminal
-u FILE
FILE exists and its set-user-ID bit is set
-w FILE
FILE exists and is writable
-x FILE
FILE exists and is executable

Beware that parentheses need to be escaped (e.g., by backslashes) for shells. INTEGER may also be -l STRING, which evaluates to the length of STRING.  

AUTHOR

Written by FIXME: ksb and mjb.  

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to <bug-sh-utils@gnu.org>.  

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  

SEE ALSO

The full documentation for test is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and test programs are properly installed at your site, the command
info test

should give you access to the complete manual.


 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR
REPORTING BUGS
COPYRIGHT
SEE ALSO

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