Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide: An in-depth exploration of the art of shell scripting | ||
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is equal to
if [ "$a" -eq "$b" ]
is not equal to
if [ "$a" -ne "$b" ]
is greater than
if [ "$a" -gt "$b" ]
is greater than or equal to
if [ "$a" -ge "$b" ]
is less than
if [ "$a" -lt "$b" ]
is less than or equal to
if [ "$a" -le "$b" ]
is less than (within double parentheses)
(("$a" < "$b"))
is less than or equal to (within double parentheses)
(("$a" <= "$b"))
is greater than (within double parentheses)
(("$a" > "$b"))
is greater than or equal to (within double parentheses)
(("$a" >= "$b"))
is equal to
if [ "$a" = "$b" ]
is equal to
if [ "$a" == "$b" ]
This is a synonym for =.
1 [[ $a == z* ]] # true if $a starts with an "z" (pattern matching) 2 [[ $a == "z*" ]] # true if $a is equal to z* 3 4 [ $a == z* ] # file globbing and word splitting take place 5 [ "$a" == "z*" ] # true if $a is equal to z* 6 7 # Thanks, S.C. |
is not equal to
if [ "$a" != "$b" ]
This operator uses pattern matching within a [[ ... ]] construct.
is less than, in ASCII alphabetical order
if [[ "$a" < "$b" ]]
if [ "$a" \< "$b" ]
Note that the "<" needs to be escaped within a [ ] construct.
is greater than, in ASCII alphabetical order
if [[ "$a" > "$b" ]]
if [ "$a" \> "$b" ]
Note that the ">" needs to be escaped within a [ ] construct.
See Example 26-6 for an application of this comparison operator.
string is "null", that is, has zero length
string is not "null".
The -n test absolutely requires that the string be quoted within the test brackets. Using an unquoted string with ! -z, or even just the unquoted string alone within test brackets (see Example 7-6) normally works, however, this is an unsafe practice. Always quote a tested string. [1] |
Example 7-5. Arithmetic and string comparisons
1 #!/bin/bash 2 3 a=4 4 b=5 5 6 # Here "a" and "b" can be treated either as integers or strings. 7 # There is some blurring between the arithmetic and string comparisons, 8 #+ since Bash variables are not strongly typed. 9 10 # Bash permits integer operations and comparisons on variables 11 #+ whose value consists of all-integer characters. 12 # Caution advised. 13 14 echo 15 16 if [ "$a" -ne "$b" ] 17 then 18 echo "$a is not equal to $b" 19 echo "(arithmetic comparison)" 20 fi 21 22 echo 23 24 if [ "$a" != "$b" ] 25 then 26 echo "$a is not equal to $b." 27 echo "(string comparison)" 28 # "4" != "5" 29 # ASCII 52 != ASCII 53 30 fi 31 32 # In this particular instance, both "-ne" and "!=" work. 33 34 echo 35 36 exit 0 |
Example 7-6. Testing whether a string is null
1 #!/bin/bash 2 # str-test.sh: Testing null strings and unquoted strings, 3 # but not strings and sealing wax, not to mention cabbages and kings... 4 5 # Using if [ ... ] 6 7 8 # If a string has not been initialized, it has no defined value. 9 # This state is called "null" (not the same as zero). 10 11 if [ -n $string1 ] # $string1 has not been declared or initialized. 12 then 13 echo "String \"string1\" is not null." 14 else 15 echo "String \"string1\" is null." 16 fi 17 # Wrong result. 18 # Shows $string1 as not null, although it was not initialized. 19 20 21 echo 22 23 24 # Lets try it again. 25 26 if [ -n "$string1" ] # This time, $string1 is quoted. 27 then 28 echo "String \"string1\" is not null." 29 else 30 echo "String \"string1\" is null." 31 fi # Quote strings within test brackets! 32 33 34 echo 35 36 37 if [ $string1 ] # This time, $string1 stands naked. 38 then 39 echo "String \"string1\" is not null." 40 else 41 echo "String \"string1\" is null." 42 fi 43 # This works fine. 44 # The [ ] test operator alone detects whether the string is null. 45 # However it is good practice to quote it ("$string1"). 46 # 47 # As Stephane Chazelas points out, 48 # if [ $string 1 ] has one argument, "]" 49 # if [ "$string 1" ] has two arguments, the empty "$string1" and "]" 50 51 52 53 echo 54 55 56 57 string1=initialized 58 59 if [ $string1 ] # Again, $string1 stands naked. 60 then 61 echo "String \"string1\" is not null." 62 else 63 echo "String \"string1\" is null." 64 fi 65 # Again, gives correct result. 66 # Still, it is better to quote it ("$string1"), because... 67 68 69 string1="a = b" 70 71 if [ $string1 ] # Again, $string1 stands naked. 72 then 73 echo "String \"string1\" is not null." 74 else 75 echo "String \"string1\" is null." 76 fi 77 # Not quoting "$string1" now gives wrong result! 78 79 exit 0 80 # Also, thank you, Florian Wisser, for the "heads-up". |
Example 7-7. zmost
1 #!/bin/bash 2 3 #View gzipped files with 'most' 4 5 NOARGS=65 6 NOTFOUND=66 7 NOTGZIP=67 8 9 if [ $# -eq 0 ] # same effect as: if [ -z "$1" ] 10 # $1 can exist, but be empty: zmost "" arg2 arg3 11 then 12 echo "Usage: `basename $0` filename" >&2 13 # Error message to stderr. 14 exit $NOARGS 15 # Returns 65 as exit status of script (error code). 16 fi 17 18 filename=$1 19 20 if [ ! -f "$filename" ] # Quoting $filename allows for possible spaces. 21 then 22 echo "File $filename not found!" >&2 23 # Error message to stderr. 24 exit $NOTFOUND 25 fi 26 27 if [ ${filename##*.} != "gz" ] 28 # Using bracket in variable substitution. 29 then 30 echo "File $1 is not a gzipped file!" 31 exit $NOTGZIP 32 fi 33 34 zcat $1 | most 35 36 # Uses the file viewer 'most' (similar to 'less'). 37 # Later versions of 'most' have file decompression capabilities. 38 # May substitute 'more' or 'less', if desired. 39 40 41 exit $? # Script returns exit status of pipe. 42 # Actually "exit $?" unnecessary, as the script will, in any case, 43 # return the exit status of the last command executed. |
logical and
exp1 -a exp2 returns true if both exp1 and exp2 are true.
logical or
exp1 -o exp2 returns true if either exp1 or exp2 are true.
These are similar to the Bash comparison operators && and ||, used within double brackets.
1 [[ condition1 && condition2 ]] |
1 if [ "$exp1" -a "$exp2" ] |
Refer to Example 8-3 and Example 26-11 to see compound comparison operators in action.
[1] | As S.C. points out, in a compound test, even quoting the string variable might not suffice. [ -n "$string" -o "$a" = "$b" ] may cause an error with some versions of Bash if $string is empty. The safe way is to append an extra character to possibly empty variables, [ "x$string" != x -o "x$a" = "x$b" ] (the "x's" cancel out). |