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)

       -N FILE
              FILE exists and has been modified since it was last read

       -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 the user has read access

       -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 the user has write access

       -x FILE
              FILE exists and the user has execute (or search) access

       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.

       NOTE: Binary -a and -o are inherently ambiguous.  Use 'test EXPR1 && test EXPR2' or  'test
       EXPR1 || test EXPR2' instead.

       NOTE:  [  honors the --help and --version options, but test does not.  test treats each of
       those as it treats any other nonempty STRING.

       NOTE: your shell may have its own version of test and/or [, which usually  supersedes  the
       version  described here.  Please refer to your shell's documentation for details about the
       options it supports.

AUTHOR

       Written by Kevin Braunsdorf and Matthew Bradburn.

REPORTING BUGS

       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+:  GNU  GPL  version  3  or
       later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       This  is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.  There is NO WARRANTY,
       to the extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO

       access(2)

       Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/test>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) test invocation'