.\"- .\" Copyright (c) 1991, 1993 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. .\" .\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by .\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software .\" without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" @(#)test.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 5/31/93 .\" $FreeBSD$ .\" .Dd September 10, 2010 .Dt TEST 1 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm test , .Nm \&[ .Nd condition evaluation utility .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm .Ar expression .Nm \&[ .Ar expression Cm ] .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm utility evaluates the expression and, if it evaluates to true, returns a zero (true) exit status; otherwise it returns 1 (false). If there is no expression, .Nm also returns 1 (false). .Pp All operators and flags are separate arguments to the .Nm utility. .Pp The following primaries are used to construct expression: .Bl -tag -width Ar .It Fl b Ar file True if .Ar file exists and is a block special file. .It Fl c Ar file True if .Ar file exists and is a character special file. .It Fl d Ar file True if .Ar file exists and is a directory. .It Fl e Ar file True if .Ar file exists (regardless of type). .It Fl f Ar file True if .Ar file exists and is a regular file. .It Fl g Ar file True if .Ar file exists and its set group ID flag is set. .It Fl h Ar file True if .Ar file exists and is a symbolic link. This operator is retained for compatibility with previous versions of this program. Do not rely on its existence; use .Fl L instead. .It Fl k Ar file True if .Ar file exists and its sticky bit is set. .It Fl n Ar string True if the length of .Ar string is nonzero. .It Fl p Ar file True if .Ar file is a named pipe .Pq Tn FIFO . .It Fl r Ar file True if .Ar file exists and is readable. .It Fl s Ar file True if .Ar file exists and has a size greater than zero. .It Fl t Ar file_descriptor True if the file whose file descriptor number is .Ar file_descriptor is open and is associated with a terminal. .It Fl u Ar file True if .Ar file exists and its set user ID flag is set. .It Fl w Ar file True if .Ar file exists and is writable. True indicates only that the write flag is on. The file is not writable on a read-only file system even if this test indicates true. .It Fl x Ar file True if .Ar file exists and is executable. True indicates only that the execute flag is on. If .Ar file is a directory, true indicates that .Ar file can be searched. .It Fl z Ar string True if the length of .Ar string is zero. .It Fl L Ar file True if .Ar file exists and is a symbolic link. .It Fl O Ar file True if .Ar file exists and its owner matches the effective user id of this process. .It Fl G Ar file True if .Ar file exists and its group matches the effective group id of this process. .It Fl S Ar file True if .Ar file exists and is a socket. .It Ar file1 Fl nt Ar file2 True if .Ar file1 exists and is newer than .Ar file2 . .It Ar file1 Fl ot Ar file2 True if .Ar file1 exists and is older than .Ar file2 . .It Ar file1 Fl ef Ar file2 True if .Ar file1 and .Ar file2 exist and refer to the same file. .It Ar string True if .Ar string is not the null string. .It Ar s1 Cm = Ar s2 True if the strings .Ar s1 and .Ar s2 are identical. .It Ar s1 Cm != Ar s2 True if the strings .Ar s1 and .Ar s2 are not identical. .It Ar s1 Cm < Ar s2 True if string .Ar s1 comes before .Ar s2 based on the binary value of their characters. .It Ar s1 Cm > Ar s2 True if string .Ar s1 comes after .Ar s2 based on the binary value of their characters. .It Ar n1 Fl eq Ar n2 True if the integers .Ar n1 and .Ar n2 are algebraically equal. .It Ar n1 Fl ne Ar n2 True if the integers .Ar n1 and .Ar n2 are not algebraically equal. .It Ar n1 Fl gt Ar n2 True if the integer .Ar n1 is algebraically greater than the integer .Ar n2 . .It Ar n1 Fl ge Ar n2 True if the integer .Ar n1 is algebraically greater than or equal to the integer .Ar n2 . .It Ar n1 Fl lt Ar n2 True if the integer .Ar n1 is algebraically less than the integer .Ar n2 . .It Ar n1 Fl le Ar n2 True if the integer .Ar n1 is algebraically less than or equal to the integer .Ar n2 . .El .Pp If .Ar file is a symbolic link, .Nm will fully dereference it and then evaluate the expression against the file referenced, except for the .Fl h and .Fl L primaries. .Pp These primaries can be combined with the following operators: .Bl -tag -width Ar .It Cm \&! Ar expression True if .Ar expression is false. .It Ar expression1 Fl a Ar expression2 True if both .Ar expression1 and .Ar expression2 are true. .It Ar expression1 Fl o Ar expression2 True if either .Ar expression1 or .Ar expression2 are true. .It Cm \&( Ns Ar expression Ns Cm \&) True if expression is true. .El .Pp The .Fl a operator has higher precedence than the .Fl o operator. .Pp Some shells may provide a builtin .Nm command which is similar or identical to this utility. Consult the .Xr builtin 1 manual page. .Sh GRAMMAR AMBIGUITY The .Nm grammar is inherently ambiguous. In order to ensure a degree of consistency, the cases described in the .St -p1003.2 , section D11.2/4.62.4, standard are evaluated consistently according to the rules specified in the standards document. All other cases are subject to the ambiguity in the command semantics. .Pp In particular, only expressions containing .Fl a , .Fl o , .Cm \&( or .Cm \&) can be ambiguous. .Sh EXIT STATUS The .Nm utility exits with one of the following values: .Bl -tag -width indent .It 0 expression evaluated to true. .It 1 expression evaluated to false or expression was missing. .It >1 An error occurred. .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr builtin 1 , .Xr expr 1 , .Xr sh 1 , .Xr symlink 7 .Sh STANDARDS The .Nm utility implements a superset of the .St -p1003.2 specification. .Sh BUGS Both sides are always evaluated in .Fl a and .Fl o . For instance, the writable status of .Pa file will be tested by the following command even though the former expression indicated false, which results in a gratuitous access to the file system: .Dl "[ -z abc -a -w file ]" To avoid this, write .Dl "[ -z abc ] && [ -w file ]"