1TEST(1)                          User Commands                         TEST(1)
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NAME

6       test - check file types and compare values
7

SYNOPSIS

9       test EXPRESSION
10       test
11       [ EXPRESSION ]
12       [ ]
13       [ OPTION
14

DESCRIPTION

16       Exit with the status determined by EXPRESSION.
17
18       --help display this help and exit
19
20       --version
21              output version information and exit
22
23       An omitted EXPRESSION defaults to false.  Otherwise, EXPRESSION is true
24       or false and sets exit status.  It is one of:
25
26       ( EXPRESSION )
27              EXPRESSION is true
28
29       ! EXPRESSION
30              EXPRESSION is false
31
32       EXPRESSION1 -a EXPRESSION2
33              both EXPRESSION1 and EXPRESSION2 are true
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35       EXPRESSION1 -o EXPRESSION2
36              either EXPRESSION1 or EXPRESSION2 is true
37
38       -n STRING
39              the length of STRING is nonzero
40
41       STRING equivalent to -n STRING
42
43       -z STRING
44              the length of STRING is zero
45
46       STRING1 = STRING2
47              the strings are equal
48
49       STRING1 != STRING2
50              the strings are not equal
51
52       INTEGER1 -eq INTEGER2
53              INTEGER1 is equal to INTEGER2
54
55       INTEGER1 -ge INTEGER2
56              INTEGER1 is greater than or equal to INTEGER2
57
58       INTEGER1 -gt INTEGER2
59              INTEGER1 is greater than INTEGER2
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61       INTEGER1 -le INTEGER2
62              INTEGER1 is less than or equal to INTEGER2
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64       INTEGER1 -lt INTEGER2
65              INTEGER1 is less than INTEGER2
66
67       INTEGER1 -ne INTEGER2
68              INTEGER1 is not equal to INTEGER2
69
70       FILE1 -ef FILE2
71              FILE1 and FILE2 have the same device and inode numbers
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73       FILE1 -nt FILE2
74              FILE1 is newer (modification date) than FILE2
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76       FILE1 -ot FILE2
77              FILE1 is older than FILE2
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79       -b FILE
80              FILE exists and is block special
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82       -c FILE
83              FILE exists and is character special
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85       -d FILE
86              FILE exists and is a directory
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88       -e FILE
89              FILE exists
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91       -f FILE
92              FILE exists and is a regular file
93
94       -g FILE
95              FILE exists and is set-group-ID
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97       -G FILE
98              FILE exists and is owned by the effective group ID
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100       -h FILE
101              FILE exists and is a symbolic link (same as -L)
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103       -k FILE
104              FILE exists and has its sticky bit set
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106       -L FILE
107              FILE exists and is a symbolic link (same as -h)
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109       -O FILE
110              FILE exists and is owned by the effective user ID
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112       -p FILE
113              FILE exists and is a named pipe
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115       -r FILE
116              FILE exists and read permission is granted
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118       -s FILE
119              FILE exists and has a size greater than zero
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121       -S FILE
122              FILE exists and is a socket
123
124       -t FD  file descriptor FD is opened on a terminal
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126       -u FILE
127              FILE exists and its set-user-ID bit is set
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129       -w FILE
130              FILE exists and write permission is granted
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132       -x FILE
133              FILE exists and execute (or search) permission is granted
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135       Except for -h and  -L,  all  FILE-related  tests  dereference  symbolic
136       links.   Beware  that  parentheses  need  to be escaped (e.g., by back‐
137       slashes) for shells.  INTEGER may also be -l STRING, which evaluates to
138       the length of STRING.
139
140       NOTE:  Binary  -a  and -o are inherently ambiguous.  Use 'test EXPR1 &&
141       test EXPR2' or 'test EXPR1 || test EXPR2' instead.
142
143       NOTE: [ honors the --help and --version options,  but  test  does  not.
144       test treats each of those as it treats any other nonempty STRING.
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146       NOTE:  your shell may have its own version of test and/or [, which usu‐
147       ally supersedes the version  described  here.   Please  refer  to  your
148       shell's documentation for details about the options it supports.
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AUTHOR

151       Written by Kevin Braunsdorf and Matthew Bradburn.
152

REPORTING BUGS

154       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
155       Report [ translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
156

158       Copyright  ©  2018  Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU
159       GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
160       This is free software: you are free  to  change  and  redistribute  it.
161       There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
162

SEE ALSO

164       Full documentation at: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/[>
165       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) test invocation'
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169GNU coreutils 8.30                 July 2018                           TEST(1)
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