test(1) 						      General Commands Manual							   test(1)

NAME

       test, [ - Evaluates conditional expressions

SYNOPSIS

       test [expression]

       [[expression]]

STANDARDS

       Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:

       test:  XCU5.0

       [:  XCU5.0

       Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags.

OPTIONS

       None

OPERANDS

       The  expression to be evaluated as true or false.  This expression is constructed from the operators and elements explained in the DESCRIP-
       TION section.

DESCRIPTION

       The test command evaluates an expression constructed of functions and operators.  If the value of expression is true, test returns an  exit
       value  of  zero(0); otherwise, it returns FALSE, a nonzero exit value.	The test command also returns a nonzero exit value if there are no
       arguments.

       The alternate form of the command surrounds expression with brackets ([ ]).  When you use this form, you must surround  the  brackets  with
       spaces.

   The test Expressions
       All of the listed functions and operators are separate arguments to test.

       The  following  functions are used to construct expression: TRUE if file exists and has read permission.  TRUE if file exists and has write
       permission.  TRUE if file exists and has execute permission.  TRUE if file exists and is a regular file.  TRUE if  file	exists	and  is  a
       directory.   TRUE  if  file exists.  TRUE if file exists and is a character-special file.  TRUE if file exists and is a block-special file.
       TRUE if file exists and is a named pipe (FIFO).	[Tru64 UNIX]  TRUE if file exists and is a soft link.  Synonym for -L expression.  TRUE if
       file  exists  and is a soft link.  Synonym for -h expression.  TRUE if file exists and its set-user ID bit is set.  TRUE if file exists and
       its set-group ID bit is set.  [Tru64 UNIX]  TRUE if file exists and its sticky bit is set.  TRUE if file exists and has a size greater than
       zero(0).  TRUE if the open file with file descriptor number file_descriptor (1 by default) is associated with a terminal device.  TRUE if
       the length of string1 is zero(0).  TRUE if the length of string1 is nonzero.  TRUE if string1 and string2 are identical.  TRUE if  string1
       and  string2 are not identical.	TRUE if string1 is not the null string.  TRUE if the integers number1 and number2 are algebraically equal.
       Any of the comparisons -ne, -gt, -ge, -lt, and -le can be used in place of -eq.

       The listed functions can be combined with the following operators: Unary negation operator.  Binary AND operator.  Binary OR operator  (the
       -a operator has higher precedence than the -o operator).  [Tru64 UNIX]  Parentheses for grouping.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned: The test command evaluated expression and its value is TRUE.  The test command evaluated expression
       and is value is FALSE, or there are no arguments.  An error occurred.

EXAMPLES

       To test whether a file exists and is not empty, enter: if test ! -s "$1" then	  echo $1 does not exist or is empty.  fi

	      If the file specified by the first positional parameter to the shell procedure does not exist, this displays an error  message.	If
	      $1 exists, it displays nothing.  There must be a space between -s expression and the file name.

	      The  double  quotes  around  $1  ensure  that the test will work properly even if the value of $1 is the empty string. If the double
	      quotes are omitted and $1 is the empty string, test displays the error message test: parameter expected.	To do a  complex  compari-
	      son, enter: if [ $# -lt 2  -o  ! -s "$1" ] then	   exit fi

	      If  the  shell  procedure was given fewer than two positional parameters or the file specified by $1 does not exist, then this exits
	      the shell procedure. The special shell variable $# represents the number of positional parameters entered on the command	line  that
	      started this shell procedure.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       The  following environment variables affect the execution of test: Provides a default value for the internationalization variables that are
       unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value from the default locale is used.  If any of the internationalization vari-
       ables  contain  an  invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of the variables had been defined.  If set to a non-empty string value,
       overrides the values of all the other internationalization variables.  Determines the locale for the interpretation of sequences  of  bytes
       of  text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multibyte characters in arguments).	Determines the locale for the for-
       mat and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.  Determines the location of message catalogues  for  the  processing	of
       LC_MESSAGES.

SEE ALSO

       Commands:  csh(1), find(1), ksh(1), Bourne shell sh(1b), POSIX shell sh(1p)

       Standards:  standards(5)

																	   test(1)