test
check file types and compare values
Synopsis
test
EXPRESSION
test
[
EXPRESSION ]
[ ]
[ OPTION
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examples
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description
Exit with the
status determined by EXPRESSION.
--help
display this help and exit
--version
output version information and
exit
An omitted
EXPRESSION defaults to false. Otherwise, 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
STRING
equivalent to -n STRING
-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
-G FILE
FILE exists and is owned by the
effective group ID
-h FILE
FILE exists and is a symbolic
link (same as -L)
-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 read permission
is granted
-s FILE
FILE exists and has a size
greater than zero
-S FILE
FILE exists and is a socket
-t FD
file descriptor FD is opened on a terminal
-u FILE
FILE exists and its
set-user-ID bit is set
-w FILE
FILE exists and write
permission is granted
-x FILE
FILE exists and execute (or
search) permission is granted
Except for
-h and -L, all FILE-related
tests dereference symbolic links. 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.
NOTE: [ honors
the --help and
--version options, but test does not.
test treats each of those as it treats any other nonempty
STRING.
NOTE: your
shell may have its own version of test and/or [, which
usually supersedes the version described here. Please refer
to your shell’s documentation for details about the
options it supports.
copyright
Copyright © 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+:
GNU GPL version 3 or later
<http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute
it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
reporting bugs
Report test bugs to bug-coreutils[:at:]gnu[:dot:]org
GNU coreutils home page:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software:
<http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report test translation bugs to
<http://translationproject.org/team/>
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
coreutils 'test invocation'
should give you
access to the complete manual.
author
Written by
Kevin Braunsdorf and Matthew Bradburn.