false

Return failure status

$ false

$ if false; then echo "never"; fi

$ false || echo "false returned failure"

$ while false; do :; done

false

false does nothing and returns a failure exit status (1). It's the counterpart to true and is used in shell scripts for flow control, testing, and as a placeholder.
The command takes no operands and always exits with status 1, indicating failure. This makes it useful in conditional statements, loops that should never execute, and testing error handling.
false is a POSIX-standard command and shell builtin, providing a guaranteed failure exit status.

--help

Display help information.

Display version information.

As a builtin, behavior may vary slightly between shells. Exit status is always 1 (or non-zero). Does absolutely nothing else.

false has been part of Unix since Version 7 (1979). It's one of the simplest Unix commands, existing solely to return a failure status. It's specified by POSIX and implemented as both a standalone utility and shell builtin.

true(1), test(1), bash(1)