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TEST(1) 						      General Commands Manual							   TEST(1)

NAME
test - set status according to condition SYNOPSIS
test expr DESCRIPTION
Test evaluates the expression expr. If the value is true the exit status is null; otherwise the exit status is non-null. If there are no arguments the exit status is non-null. The following primitives are used to construct expr. -r file True if the file exists (is accessible) and is readable. -w file True if the file exists and is writable. -x file True if the file exists and has execute permission. -e file True if the file exists. -f file True if the file exists and is a plain file. -d file True if the file exists and is a directory. -s file True if the file exists and has a size greater than zero. -t fildes True if the open file whose file descriptor number is fildes (1 by default) is the same file as /dev/cons. -A file True if the file exists and is append-only. -L file True if the file exists and is exclusive-use. -Tfile True if the file exists and is temporary. s1 = s2 True if the strings s1 and s2 are identical. s1 != s2 True if the strings s1 and s2 are not identical. s1 True if s1 is not the null string. (Deprecated.) -n s1 True if the length of string s1 is non-zero. -z s1 True if the length of string s1 is zero. n1 -eq n2 True if the integers n1 and n2 are arithmetically equal. Any of the comparisons -ne, -gt, -ge, -lt, or -le may be used in place of -eq. The (nonstandard) construct -l string, meaning the length of string, may be used in place of an integer. a -nt b True if file a is newer than (modified after) file b. a -ot b True if file a is older than (modified before) file b. f -older t True if file f is older than (modified before) time t. If t is a integer followed by the letters y(years), M(months), d(days), h(hours), m(minutes), or s(seconds), it represents current time minus the specified time. If there is no letter, it represents seconds since epoch. You can also concatenate mixed units. For example, 3d12h means three days and twelve hours ago. These primaries may be combined with the following operators: ! unary negation operator -o binary or operator -a binary and operator; higher precedence than -o ( expr ) parentheses for grouping. The primitives -b, -u, -g, and -s return false; they are recognized for compatibility with POSIX. Notice that all the operators and flags are separate arguments to test. Notice also that parentheses and equal signs are meaningful to rc and must be enclosed in quotes. EXAMPLES
Test is a dubious way to check for specific character strings: it uses a process to do what an rc(1) match or switch statement can do. The first example is not only inefficient but wrong, because test understands the purported string "-c" as an option. if (test $1 '=' "-c") echo OK # wrong! A better way is if (~ $1 -c) echo OK Test whether is in the current directory. test -f abc -o -d abc SOURCE
/src/cmd/test.c SEE ALSO
rc(1) TEST(1)

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test(1B)					     SunOS/BSD Compatibility Package Commands						  test(1B)

NAME
test - condition evaluation command SYNOPSIS
/usr/ucb/test expression expression DESCRIPTION
test evaluates the expression expression and, if its value is true, sets 0 (true) exit status; otherwise, a non-zero (false) exit status is set. test also sets a non-zero exit status if there are no arguments. When permissions are tested, the effective user ID of the process is used. All operators, flags, and brackets (brackets used as shown in the second SYNOPSIS line) must be separate arguments to the test command; normally these items are separated by spaces. USAGE
Primitives The following primitives are used to construct expression: -r filename True if filename exists and is readable. -w filename True if filename exists and is writable. -x filename True if filename exists and is executable. -f filename True if filename exists and is a regular file. Alternatively, if /usr/bin/sh users specify /usr/ucb before /usr/bin in their PATH environment variable, then test will return true if filename exists and is (not-a-directory). This is also the default for /usr/bin/csh users. -d filename True if filename exists and is a directory. -c filename True if filename exists and is a character special file. -b filename True if filename exists and is a block special file. -p filename True if filename exists and is a named pipe (fifo). -u filename True if filename exists and its set-user- ID bit is set. -g filename True if filename exists and its set-group- ID bit is set. -k filename True if filename exists and its sticky bit is set. -s filename True if filename exists and has a size greater than zero. -t[ fildes ] True if the open file whose file descriptor number is fildes (1 by default) is associated with a terminal device. -z s1 True if the length of string s1 is zero. -n s1 True if the length of the string s1 is non-zero. s1 = s2 True if strings s1 and s2 are identical. s1 != s2 True if strings s1 and s2 are not identical. s1 True if s1 is not the null string. n1 -eq n2 True if the integers n1 and n2 are algebraically equal. Any of the comparisons -ne, -gt, -ge, -lt, and -le may be used in place of -eq. Operators These primaries may be combined with the following operators: ! Unary negation operator. -a Binary and operator. -o Binary or operator (-a has higher precedence than -o). (expression) Parentheses for grouping. Notice also that parentheses are meaningful to the shell and, therefore, must be quoted. ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes: +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ | ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |Availability |SUNWscpu | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ SEE ALSO
find(1), sh(1), attributes(5) NOTES
The not-a-directory alternative to the -f option is a transition aid for BSD applications and may not be supported in future releases. If you test a file you own (the -r , -w , or -x tests), but the permission tested does not have the owner bit set, a non-zero (false) exit status will be returned even though the file may have the group or other bit set for that permission. The correct exit status will be set if you are super-user. The = and != operators have a higher precedence than the -r through -n operators, and = and != always expect arguments; therefore, = and != cannot be used with the -r through -n operators. If more than one argument follows the -r through -n operators, only the first argument is examined; the others are ignored, unless a -a or a -o is the second argument. SunOS 5.11 1 Apr 1996 test(1B)
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