Shell Programming and Scripting

Try, instead "-e", use "-f".

Regards!

Code:

exists(){ [ -e "$1" ];};if exists /path/filename.*; then echo exists; else echo nope; fi

I tried running the script with -x option and got the below message.

ksh -x script.ksh

+ [ -e /path/filename1.20101001_18_18_40.tar.gz /path/filename1.20100930_18_18_40.tar.gz /path/filename1.20101002_18_18_40.tar.gz ]
script.ksh[3]: [: /path/filename1.20100930_18_18_40.tar.gz: unexpected operator/operand


So it's becuase of its finding multiple files

This above script from post #1 appears to work in a Posix Shell.

Code:

if [ -e /path/filename.* ]
then
        <do some work> 
else
        <no files>
fi

The script from post #5 is an improvement on the one in post #4 because it does not fail in the "ls" when there are no files.

However the script does not work if there are space characters in filenames and more importantly does not give the desired result. We need to put quotes round the filename and exit the do-done loop when we find the first file.
Strangely the script works when there are no files because it fails to expand the pattern and pases "/path/filename*" as the sole paramter to the "test -e" statement which then does not find the file.
Overall it is actually no better than the script in post #1 because it relies on "test -e" which is what I suspect is the actual problem.

Code:

for i in /path/filename.*
do
	if [ -e "$i" ]
	then
		echo "File Exists"
                          break
	else
		echo "Fail"
	fi
done

---------- Post updated at 12:25 ---------- Previous update was at 12:17 ----------

Posts crossing in the post here.

I agree totally with post #7 . Use "-f" not "-e" . The "-e" option does not work in "ksh".

I do not think -e has anything to do with it. -e should work in ksh. The problem is simply that wild card expansion is done by the shell before the list is past to test -e. This command only expects a single parameter. Since we only need to test if one of the files exist, we can cut of the rest of the list. This can be accomplished by either only using "$1" inside a function or looping and breaking. If there are no files then the * simply does not get expanded which is no problem for test -e.

And a one-liner.

Code:

[ -f /path/filename* ] && echo "File Exists" || echo "Fail"

---------- Post updated at 12:35 ---------- Previous update was at 12:31 ----------

It works in Posix shells but gives a syntax error in normal ksh88.


Eample session in ksh88.

Code:

ksh
# touch abc
# if [ -f abc ]
> then
> echo "ok"
> fi
ok
# if [ -e abc ]
> then
> echo "ok"
> fi
ksh: test: argument expected

Maybe are you using: PD KSH?

This will probably work:

Code:

# ls -1 f*
f
ff
fff
ffff
fffff

###########################
for mFile in f*
do
	[ -e ${mFile} ] && echo "File: [${mFile}] Exists." || echo "Fail: [${mFile}]."
done

I tried this in my Sun environment, and it worked:

Code:

if [ -e f* ]; then echo "Exists"; else echo "Not Exists"; fi
Exists

My Sun environment has this version: KornShell Software

Regards!