test Command in Linux with Examples

This tutorial explains Linux “test” command, options and its usage with examples.

test – Checks file types and compares values.

DESCRIPTION

Test is used in conditional execution. It is used for:
1. File attributes comparisons
2. Perform string comparisons.
3. Basic arithmetic comparisons.

test exits with the status determined by EXPRESSION. Placing the EXPRESSION between square brackets ([ and ]) is the same as testing the EXPRESSION with test. To see the exit status at the command prompt, echo the value “$?” A value of 0 means the expression evaluated as true, and a value of 1 means the expression evaluated as false.

SYNOPSIS

test EXPRESSION

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EXPRESSIONS

Expressions take the following forms:

( 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

EXAMPLES

1. Simple example stating use of relational operator -gt

$ test 100 -gt 99 && echo "Yes, that's true." || echo "No, that's false."

This command will print the text “Yes, that’s true.” because 100 is greater than 99.

2. This example states the use of test command along-with echoing $? i.e. last command exit status.

[ "awesome" = "awesome" ]; echo $?

This command will print “0” because the expression is true; the two strings are identical.

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3. Check if a FILE exists and is a regular file

$ test -f /etc/resolv.conf && echo "File /etc/resolv.conf found." || echo "File /etc/resolv.conf not found."
File /etc/resolv.conf found.

4. To test whether a file is nonexistent or empty, type the shell script:

 if test ! -s "$1"
 then
   echo $1 does not exist or is empty.
 fi

If the file specified by the first positional parameter to the shell procedure, $1, does not exist or is of size 0, the test command displays the message. If $1 exists and has a size greater than 0, the test command displays nothing.
Note: There must be a space between the -s function and the file name.
The quotation marks around $1 ensure that the test works properly even if the value of $1 is a null string. If the quotation marks are omitted and $1 is the empty string, the test command displays the error message

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test: argument expected.

5. To do a complex comparison, type the shell script:

 if [ $# -lt 2 -o ! -e "$1" ]
 then
   exit
 fi

If the shell procedure is given fewer than two positional parameters or the file specified by $1 does not exist, then the shell procedure exits. The special shell variable $# represents the number of positional parameters entered on the command line that starts this shell procedure.

Sanfoundry Global Education & Learning Series – 1000 Linux Tutorials.

If you wish to look at all Linux commands and their usage examples, go to Linux Commands Tutorial.

If you find any mistake above, kindly email to [email protected]

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Manish Bhojasia, a technology veteran with 20+ years @ Cisco & Wipro, is Founder and CTO at Sanfoundry. He lives in Bangalore, and focuses on development of Linux Kernel, SAN Technologies, Advanced C, Data Structures & Alogrithms. Stay connected with him at LinkedIn.

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