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Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers Tests for existence of files/directories Post 302254892 by msb65 on Wednesday 5th of November 2008 11:43:39 AM
Old 11-05-2008
Tests for existence of files/directories

Hi,

- The first question I have concerns a very fundamental aspect of a unix OS. Specifically, does unix treat everything as a file (ie a directory is just a type of file)?

- The reason I ask is that I am trying to determine which BASH unary operator I would to use to determine whether or not a directory exists. I am writing a BASH shell script where the user defines a directory in which data files will be placed. I would then like to check that the specified directory exists, and if not the script will error.

I am inclined to use the -d operator (file is a directory). Does this have an implicit test for existence?

The other choice I can think of is the -e operator (file exists). This would assume that unix treats directories as files.

I appreciate any help. Thank you.

Mike
 

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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 5.10 1 Apr 1996 test(1B)
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