test

Test if a given variable is equal to a given string

$ test "[$MY_VAR]" == "[/bin/zsh]"

$ test -z "[$GIT_BRANCH]"

$ test -f "[path/to/file_or_directory]"

$ test ! -d "[path/to/directory]"

$ test [condition] && [echo "true"] || [echo "false"]

test EXPRESSION
test
[ EXPRESSION ]
[ ]
[ OPTION

Exit with the status determined by EXPRESSION.

--help

display this help and exit

--version

output version information and exit

An omitted EXPRESSION defaults to false. Otherwise, EXPRESSION is true or false and sets exit status. It is one of:

( 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)

-N FILE

FILE exists and has been modified since it was last read

-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 the user has read access

-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 the user has write access

-x FILE

FILE exists and the user has execute (or search) access

Except for -h and -L, all FILE-related tests dereference symbolic links. Beware that parentheses need to be escaped (e.g., by backslashes) for shells. INTEGER may also be -l STRING, which evaluates to the length of STRING.

NOTE: Binary -a and -o are inherently ambiguous. Use 'test EXPR1 && test EXPR2' or 'test EXPR1 || test EXPR2' instead.

NOTE: [ honors the --help and --version options, but test does not. test treats each of those as it treats any other nonempty STRING.

NOTE: your shell may have its own version of test and/or [, which usually supersedes the version described here. Please refer to your shell's documentation for details about the options it supports.

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

Copyright © 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

access(2) Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/test> or available locally via: info '(coreutils) test invocation'

Written by Kevin Braunsdorf and Matthew Bradburn.