test - Unix, Linux Command

NAME

test - check file types and compare values

SYNOPSIS

test EXPRESSION
test

[ EXPRESSION ]
[ ]
[ OPTION

DESCRIPTION

Exit with the status determined by EXPRESSION.

Tag	Description
--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: 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.

AUTHOR

Written by Kevin Braunsdorf and Matthew Bradburn.

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software. You may redistribute copies of it under the terms of the GNU General Public License <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.