test(1) 							   User Commands							   test(1)

NAME

       test - evaluate condition(s)

SYNOPSIS

       /usr/bin/test [condition]

       [ [condition] ]

   sh
       test [condition]

       [ [condition] ]

   csh
       test [condition]

       [ [condition] ]

   ksh
       test [condition]

       [ [condition] ]

DESCRIPTION

       The  test  utility  evaluates the condition and indicates the result of the evaluation by its exit status. An exit status of zero indicates
       that the condition evaluated as true and an exit status of 1 indicates that the condition evaluated as false.

       In the first form of the utility shown using the SYNOPSIS:

       test [ condition ]

       the square brackets denote that condition is an optional operand and are not to be entered on the command line.

       In the second form of the utility shown using the SYNOPSIS:

       [ [ condition ] ]

       the first open square bracket, [, is the required utility name. condition is optional, as denoted by the inner pair of square brackets. The
       final close square bracket, ], is a required operand.

       See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of test when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte (2**31 bytes).

       The  test  and  [ utilities evaluate the condition condition and, if its value is true, set exit status to 0. Otherwise, a non-zero (false)
       exit status is set. test and [ also set 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 last SYNOPSIS line) must be separate arguments to these commands. Nor-
       mally these arguments are separated by spaces.

OPERANDS

       The primaries listed below with two elements of the form:

       -primary_operator  primary_operand

       are known as unary primaries. The primaries with three elements in either of the two forms:

       primary_operand	-primary_operator  primary_operand
       primary_operand	primary_operator   primary_operand

       are known as binary primaries.

       If any file operands except for -h and -L primaries refer to symbolic links, the symbolic link is expanded and the test is performed on the
       resulting file.

       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 sta-
       tus will be returned even though the file may have the group or other bit set for that permission.

       The = and != primaries have a higher precedence than the unary primaries. The = and != primaries always expect arguments; therefore, =  and
       != cannot be used as an argument to the unary primaries.

       The following primaries can be used to construct condition:

       -a file		       True if file exists. (Not available in sh.)

       -b file		       True if file exists and is a block special file.

       -c file		       True if file exists and is a character special file.

       -d file		       True if file exists and is a directory.

       -e file		       True if file exists. (Not available in sh.)

       -f file		       True  if file 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 file exists and is (not-a-directory). The  csh  test
			       and [ built-ins always use this alternative behavior.

       -g file		       True if file exists and its set group ID flag is set.

       -G file		       True if file exists and its group matches the effective group ID of this process. (Not available in sh.)

       -h file		       True if file exists and is a symbolic link.

       -k file		       True if file exists and has its sticky bit set.

       -L file		       True if file exists and is a symbolic link.

       -n string	       True if the length of string is non-zero.

       -o option	       True if option named option is on. (Not available in csh or sh.)

       -O file		       True if file exists and is owned by the effective user ID of this process. (Not available in sh.)

       -p file		       True if file is a named pipe (FIFO).

       -r file		       True if file exists and is readable.

       -s file		       True if file exists and has a size greater than zero.

       -S file		       True if file exists and is a socket. (Not available in sh.)

       -t [file_descriptor]    True  if  the  file  whose  file descriptor number is file_descriptor is open and is associated with a terminal. If
			       file_descriptor is not specified, 1 is used as a default value.

       -u file		       True if file exists and its set-user-ID flag is set.

       -w file		       True if file exists and is writable. True will indicate only that the write flag  is  on.  The  file  will  not	be
			       writable on a read-only file system even if this test indicates true.

       -x file		       True if file exists and is executable. True will indicate only that the execute flag is on. If file is a directory,
			       true indicates that file can be searched.

       -z string	       True if the length of string string is zero.

       file1 -nt file2	       True if file1 exists and is newer than file2. (Not available in sh.)

       file1 -ot file2	       True if file1 exists and is older than file2. (Not available in sh.)

       file1 -ef file2	       True if file1 and file2 exist and refer to the same file. (Not available in sh.)

       string		       True if the string string is not the null string.

       string1 = string2       True if the strings string1 and string2 are identical.

       string1 != string2      True if the strings string1 and string2 are not identical.

       n1 -eq n2	       True if the integers n1 and n2 are algebraically equal.

       n1 -ne n2	       True if the integers n1 and n2 are not algebraically equal.

       n1 -gt n2	       True if the integer n1 is algebraically greater than the integer n2.

       n1 -ge n2	       True if the integer n1 is algebraically greater than or equal to the integer n2.

       n1 -lt n2	       True if the integer n1 is algebraically less than the integer n2.

       n1 -le n2	       True if the integer n1 is algebraically less than or equal to the integer n2.

       condition1 -a condition2True if both condition1 and condition2 are true. The -a binary primary is left associative and  has  higher  prece-
			       dence than the -o binary primary.

       condition1 -o condition2True if either condition1 or condition2 is true. The -o binary primary is left associative.

       These primaries can be combined with the following operators:

       ! condition	       True if condition is false.

       ( condition )	       True if condition is true. The parentheses ( ) can be used to alter the normal precedence and associativity. Notice
			       also that parentheses are meaningful to the shell and, therefore, must be quoted.

       The algorithm for determining the precedence of the operators and the return value that will be generated is based on the number  of  argu-
       ments presented to test. (However, when using the [...] form, the right-bracket final argument will not be counted in this algorithm.)

       In the following list, $1, $2, $3 and $4 represent the arguments presented to test as a condition, condition1, or condition2.

       0 arguments:    Exit false(1).

       1 argument:     Exit true(0) if $1 is not null. Otherwise, exit false.

       2 arguments:

			 o  If $1 is !, exit true if $2 is null, false if $2 is not null.

			 o  If $1 is a unary primary, exit true if the unary test is true, false if the unary test is false.

			 o
			    Otherwise, produce unspecified results.

       3 arguments:

			 o  If $2 is a binary primary, perform the binary test of $1 and $3.

			 o  If $1 is !, negate the two-argument test of $2 and $3.

			 o  Otherwise, produce unspecified results.

       4 arguments:

			 o  If $1 is !, negate the three-argument test of $2, $3, and $4.

			 o   Otherwise, the results are unspecified.

USAGE

       Scripts should be careful when dealing with user-supplied input that could be confused with primaries and operators. Unless the application
       writer knows all the cases that produce input to the script, invocations like test "$1" -a "$2" should be written as test "$1" && test "$2"
       to  avoid problems if a user supplied values such as $1 set to ! and $2 set to the null string. That is, in cases where maximal portability
       is of concern, replace test expr1 -a expr2 with test expr1 && test expr2, and replace test expr1 -o expr2 with test expr1  ||  test  expr2.
       But notice that, in test, -a has higher precedence than -o, while && and || have equal precedence in the shell.

       Parentheses or braces can be used in the shell command language to effect grouping.

       Parentheses must be escaped when using sh. For example:

       test ( expr1 -a expr2 ) -o expr3

       This command is not always portable outside XSI-conformant systems. The following form can be used instead:

       ( test expr1 && test expr2 ) || test expr3

       The two commands:

       test "$1"
       test ! "$1"

       could  not be used reliably on some historical systems. Unexpected results would occur if such a string condition were used and $1 expanded
       to !, (, or a known unary primary. Better constructs are, respectively,

       test -n "$1"
       test -z "$1"

       Historical systems have also been unreliable given the common construct:

       test "$response" = "expected string"

       One of the following is a more reliable form:

       test "X$response" = "Xexpected string"
       test "expected string" = "$response"

       Notice that the second form assumes that expected string could not be confused with any unary primary. If expected string starts with -, (,
       !  or  even  =, the first form should be used instead. Using the preceding rules without the marked extensions, any of the three comparison
       forms is reliable, given any input. (However, observe that the strings are quoted in all cases.)

       Because the string comparison binary primaries, = and !=, have a higher precedence than any unary primary in the >4  argument  case,  unex-
       pected results can occur if arguments are not properly prepared. For example, in

       test -d $1 -o -d $2

       If  $1  evaluates  to  a  possible directory name of =, the first three arguments are considered a string comparison, which causes a syntax
       error when the second -d is encountered. is encountered. One of the following forms prevents this; the second is preferred:

       test ( -d "$1" ) -o ( -d "$2" )
       test -d "$1" || test -d "$2"

       Also in the >4 argument case:

       test "$1" = "bat" -a "$2" = "ball"

       Syntax errors will occur if $1 evaluates to ( or !. One of the following forms prevents this; the third is preferred:

       test "X$1" = "Xbat" -a "X$2" = "Xball"
       test "$1" = "bat" && test "$2" = "ball"
       test "X$1" = "Xbat" && test "X$2" = "Xball"

EXAMPLES

       In the if command examples, three conditions are tested, and if all three evaluate as true or successful, then their validities are written
       to the screen. The three tests are:

	 o  if a variable set to 1 is greater than 0,

	 o  if a variable set to 2 is equal to 2, and

	 o  if the word "root" is included in the text file /etc/passwd.

   /usr/bin/test
       Example 1: Using /usr/bin/test

       Perform a mkdir if a directory does not exist:

       test ! -d tempdir && mkdir tempdir

       Wait for a file to become non-readable:

       while test -r thefile
       do
	  sleep 30
       done
       echo'"thefile" is no longer readable'

       Perform a command if the argument is one of three strings (two variations), using the open bracket version [ of the test command:

       if [ "$1" = "pear" ] || [ "$1" = "grape" ] || [ "$1" = "apple" ]
       then
	   command
       fi
       case "$1" in
	   pear|grape|apple) command;;
       esac

   The test built-in
       The two forms of the test built-in follow the Bourne shell's if example.

       Example 2: Using the sh built-in

       ZERO=0 ONE=1 TWO=2 ROOT=root

       if  [ $ONE -gt $ZERO ]

       [ $TWO -eq 2 ]

       grep $ROOT  /etc/passwd >&1 > /dev/null	# discard output

       then

	   echo "$ONE is greater than 0, $TWO equals 2, and $ROOT is" 
		 "a user-name in the password file"

       else

	   echo "At least one of the three test conditions is false"
       fi

       Example 3: Using the test built-in

       Examples of the test built-in:

       test `grep $ROOT /etc/passwd >&1 /dev/null`   # discard output

       echo $?	  # test for success
       [ `grep nosuchname /etc/passwd >&1 /dev/null` ]

       echo $?	  # test for failure

   csh
       Example 4: Using the csh built-in

       @ ZERO = 0; @ ONE = 1; @ TWO = 2;  set ROOT = root
       grep $ROOT  /etc/passwd >&1 /dev/null  # discard output
	   # $status must be tested for immediately following grep
       if ( "$status" == "0" && $ONE > $ZERO && $TWO == 2 ) then
	      echo "$ONE is greater than 0, $TWO equals 2, and $ROOT is" 
		    "a user-name in the password file"
	endif

   ksh
       Example 5: Using the ksh built-in

       ZERO=0 ONE=1 TWO=$((ONE+ONE)) ROOT=root
       if  ((ONE > ZERO))	     #	arithmetical comparison
	[[ $TWO = 2 ]]		      #  string comparison
	[ `grep $ROOT  /etc/passwd >&1 /dev/null` ] # discard output
       then
	    echo "$ONE is greater than 0, $TWO equals 2, and $ROOT is" 
		    "a user-name in the password file"

       else
	    echo "At least one of the three test conditions is false"
       fi

   Using -e option in sh
       Example 6: Using /usr/bin/test for the -e option

       If one really wants to use the -e option in sh, use /usr/bin/test, as in the following:

       if [ ! -h $PKG_INSTALL_ROOT$rLink ] && /usr/bin/test -e
       $PKG_INSTALL_ROOT/usr/bin/$rFile ; then
	   ln -s $rFile $PKG_INSTALL_ROOT$rLink
       fi

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       See  environ(5)	for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of test: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MES-
       SAGES, and NLSPATH.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned:

       0	condition evaluated to true.

       1	condition evaluated to false or condition was missing.

       >1	An error occurred.

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWcsu			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |Standard			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       csh(1), ksh(1), sh(1), test(1B), attributes(5), environ(5), largefile(5), standards(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.

SunOS 5.10							    23 Aug 2002 							   test(1)