[(1)				User Commands				 [(1)



NAME
       test - check file types and compare values

SYNOPSIS
       test EXPRESSION
       [ EXPRESSION ]
       [ OPTION

DESCRIPTION
       Exit with the status determined by EXPRESSION.

       --help display this help and exit

       --version
	      output version information and exit

       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

       -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

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

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

       -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 is readable

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

       -S FILE
	      FILE exists and is a socket

       -t [FD]
	      file descriptor FD (stdout by default) is opened on a terminal

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

       -w FILE
	      FILE exists and is writable

       -x FILE
	      FILE exists and is executable

       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 .

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       This  is	 free software; see the source for copying conditions.	There
       is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICU-
       LAR PURPOSE.

SEE ALSO
       The  full  documentation	 for [ is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If
       the info and [ programs are properly installed at your site, the	 com-
       mand

	      info coreutils test

       should give you access to the complete manual.



[ 5.2.1				 August 2006				 [(1)

UNIX/Linux commands referenced on this page:

1. file
2. compare
3. display
4. true
5. false
6. strings
7. less
8. link
9. as
10. size
11. which
12. free
13. info
14. at