Linux man pages

Section (1) test

Linux manual pages	Section 1

Name

test — check file types and compare values

Synopsis

test EXPRESSION

test

[ expression ]

[ ]

[ OPTION

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)
−N FILE: FILE exists and has been modified since it was last read
−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
	Binary `−a` and `−o` are inherently ambiguous. Use _zsingle_quotesz_test EXPR1 && test EXPR2_zsingle_quotesz_ or _zsingle_quotesz_test EXPR1 \|\| test EXPR2_zsingle_quotesz_ instead.

	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_zsingle_quotesz_s documentation for details about the options it supports.

AUTHOR

Written by Kevin Braunsdorf and Matthew Bradburn.

REPORTING BUGS

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>

Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>