1TEST(1) User Commands TEST(1)
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6 test - check file types and compare values
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9 test EXPRESSION
10 test
11 [ EXPRESSION ]
12 [ ]
13 [ OPTION
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16 Exit with the status determined by EXPRESSION.
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18 --help display this help and exit
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20 --version
21 output version information and exit
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23 An omitted EXPRESSION defaults to false. Otherwise, EXPRESSION is true
24 or false and sets exit status. It is one of:
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26 ( EXPRESSION )
27 EXPRESSION is true
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29 ! EXPRESSION
30 EXPRESSION is false
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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
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38 -n STRING
39 the length of STRING is nonzero
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41 STRING equivalent to -n STRING
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43 -z STRING
44 the length of STRING is zero
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46 STRING1 = STRING2
47 the strings are equal
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49 STRING1 != STRING2
50 the strings are not equal
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52 INTEGER1 -eq INTEGER2
53 INTEGER1 is equal to INTEGER2
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55 INTEGER1 -ge INTEGER2
56 INTEGER1 is greater than or equal to INTEGER2
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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
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67 INTEGER1 -ne INTEGER2
68 INTEGER1 is not equal to INTEGER2
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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
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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 -N FILE
110 FILE exists and has been modified since it was last read
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112 -O FILE
113 FILE exists and is owned by the effective user ID
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115 -p FILE
116 FILE exists and is a named pipe
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118 -r FILE
119 FILE exists and read permission is granted
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121 -s FILE
122 FILE exists and has a size greater than zero
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124 -S FILE
125 FILE exists and is a socket
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127 -t FD file descriptor FD is opened on a terminal
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129 -u FILE
130 FILE exists and its set-user-ID bit is set
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132 -w FILE
133 FILE exists and write permission is granted
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135 -x FILE
136 FILE exists and execute (or search) permission is granted
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138 Except for -h and -L, all FILE-related tests dereference symbolic
139 links. Beware that parentheses need to be escaped (e.g., by back‐
140 slashes) for shells. INTEGER may also be -l STRING, which evaluates to
141 the length of STRING.
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143 NOTE: Binary -a and -o are inherently ambiguous. Use 'test EXPR1 &&
144 test EXPR2' or 'test EXPR1 || test EXPR2' instead.
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146 NOTE: [ honors the --help and --version options, but test does not.
147 test treats each of those as it treats any other nonempty STRING.
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149 NOTE: your shell may have its own version of test and/or [, which usu‐
150 ally supersedes the version described here. Please refer to your
151 shell's documentation for details about the options it supports.
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154 Written by Kevin Braunsdorf and Matthew Bradburn.
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157 GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
158 Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
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161 Copyright © 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU
162 GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
163 This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
164 There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
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167 Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/[>
168 or available locally via: info '(coreutils) test invocation'
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172GNU coreutils 8.31 October 2019 TEST(1)