to check if file is empty or not and return a non zero value - UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

jim mcnamara · #2 (**permalink**) 11-22-2008

The shell does it - normal return values are: zero == true anything else == false

Code:

#one way
if [[ -s filename ]] ; then
      echo "filename exists and is > 0 bytes"
else
      echo "filename does not exist or is zero length"
fi
# another way
if [[ -f filename ]] ; then
      if [[ -s filename ]] ; then
             echo "filename exists and is > zero"
      else
             echo "filename exists and == zero "
      fi
else
      echo "filename does not exist"
fi