TEST(1)                  User Commands                  TEST(1)





NAME
       test - check file types and compare values

SYNOPSIS
       test EXPRESSION
       test

       [ EXPRESSION ]
       [ ]
       [ OPTION

DESCRIPTION
       Exit with the status determined by EXPRESSION.

       --help display this help and exit

       --version
              output version information and exit

       An  omitted  EXPRESSION  defaults  to false.  Otherwise,
       EXPRESSION is true or false and sets exit status.  It is
       one of:

       ( EXPRESSION )
              EXPRESSION is true

       ! EXPRESSION
              EXPRESSION is false

       EXPRESSION1 -a EXPRESSION2
              both EXPRESSION1 and EXPRESSION2 are true

       EXPRESSION1 -o EXPRESSION2
              either EXPRESSION1 or EXPRESSION2 is true

       -n STRING
              the length of STRING is nonzero

       STRING equivalent to -n STRING

       -z STRING
              the length of STRING is zero

       STRING1 = STRING2
              the strings are equal

       STRING1 != STRING2
              the strings are not equal

       INTEGER1 -eq INTEGER2
              INTEGER1 is equal to INTEGER2

       INTEGER1 -ge INTEGER2
              INTEGER1 is greater than or equal to INTEGER2

       INTEGER1 -gt INTEGER2
              INTEGER1 is greater than INTEGER2

       INTEGER1 -le INTEGER2
              INTEGER1 is less than or equal to INTEGER2

       INTEGER1 -lt INTEGER2
              INTEGER1 is less than INTEGER2

       INTEGER1 -ne INTEGER2
              INTEGER1 is not equal to INTEGER2

       FILE1 -ef FILE2
              FILE1  and  FILE2  have the same device and inode
              numbers

       FILE1 -nt FILE2
              FILE1 is newer (modification date) than FILE2

       FILE1 -ot FILE2
              FILE1 is older than FILE2

       -b FILE
              FILE exists and is block special

       -c FILE
              FILE exists and is character special

       -d FILE
              FILE exists and is a directory

       -e FILE
              FILE exists

       -f FILE
              FILE exists and is a regular file

       -g FILE
              FILE exists and is set-group-ID

       -G FILE
              FILE exists and is owned by the  effective  group
              ID

       -h FILE
              FILE exists and is a symbolic link (same as -L)

       -k FILE
              FILE exists and has its sticky bit set

       -L FILE
              FILE exists and is a symbolic link (same as -h)

       -O FILE
              FILE exists and is owned by the effective user ID

       -p FILE
              FILE exists and is a named pipe

       -r FILE
              FILE exists and read permission is granted

       -s FILE
              FILE exists and has a size greater than zero

       -S FILE
              FILE exists and is a socket

       -t FD  file descriptor FD is opened on a terminal

       -u FILE
              FILE exists and its set-user-ID bit is set

       -w FILE
              FILE exists and write permission is granted

       -x FILE
              FILE exists and execute (or search) permission is
              granted

       Except for -h and -L, all FILE-related tests dereference
       symbolic links.  Beware  that  parentheses  need  to  be
       escaped  (e.g., by backslashes) for shells.  INTEGER may
       also be -l STRING, which  evaluates  to  the  length  of
       STRING.

AUTHOR
       Written by Kevin Braunsdorf and Matthew Bradburn.

REPORTING BUGS
       Report bugs to <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       This is free software; see the source for copying condi-
       tions.  There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABIL-
       ITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

SEE ALSO
       The  full documentation for test is maintained as a Tex-
       info manual.  If the info and test programs are properly
       installed at your site, the command

              info test

       should give you access to the complete manual.



test 5.3.0               November 2004                  TEST(1)
