NAME

       test - set status according to condition

SYNOPSIS

       test expr

DESCRIPTION

       Test  evaluates  the  expression  expr.   If  the  value  is true the exit status is null;
       otherwise the exit status is non-null.  If there are no arguments the exit status is  non-
       null.

       The following primitives are used to construct expr.

       -r file    True if the file exists (is accessible) and is readable.
       -w file    True if the file exists and is writable.
       -x file    True if the file exists and has execute permission.
       -e file    True if the file exists.
       -f file    True if the file exists and is a plain file.
       -d file    True if the file exists and is a directory.
       -s file    True if the file exists and has a size greater than zero.
       -t fildes  True  if the open file whose file descriptor number is fildes (1 by default) is
                  the same file as /dev/cons.
       -A file    True if the file exists and is append-only.
       -L file    True if the file exists and is exclusive-use.
       -Tfile     True if the file exists and is temporary.
       s1 = s2    True if the strings s1 and s2 are identical.
       s1 != s2   True if the strings s1 and s2 are not identical.
       s1         True if s1 is not the null string.  (Deprecated.)
       -n s1      True if the length of string s1 is non-zero.
       -z s1      True if the length of string s1 is zero.
       n1 -eq n2  True if  the  integers  n1  and  n2  are  arithmetically  equal.   Any  of  the
                  comparisons  -ne,  -gt,  -ge,  -lt,  or  -le  may be used in place of -eq.  The
                  (nonstandard) construct -l string, meaning the length of string, may be used in
                  place of an integer.
       a -nt b    True if file a is newer than (modified after) file b.
       a -ot b    True if file a is older than (modified before) file b.
       f -older t True  if  file  f  is  older  than (modified before) time t.  If t is a integer
                  followed by the letters y(years), M(months), d(days), h(hours), m(minutes),  or
                  s(seconds),  it  represents current time minus the specified time.  If there is
                  no letter, it represents seconds since epoch.  You can also  concatenate  mixed
                  units.  For example, 3d12h means three days and twelve hours ago.

       These primaries may be combined with the following operators:

       !         unary negation operator
       -o        binary or operator
       -a        binary and operator; higher precedence than -o
       ( expr )  parentheses for grouping.

       The primitives -b, -u, -g, and -s return false; they are recognized for compatibility with
       POSIX.

       Notice that all the operators and flags are separate arguments to test.  Notice also  that
       parentheses and equal signs are meaningful to rc and must be enclosed in quotes.

EXAMPLES

       Test  is  a  dubious  way to check for specific character strings: it uses a process to do
       what an rc(1) match or switch statement can do.  The first example is not only inefficient
       but wrong, because test understands the purported string "-c" as an option.

              if (test $1 '=' "-c") echo OK # wrong!

       A better way is

              if (~ $1 -c) echo OK

       Test whether is in the current directory.

              test -f abc -o -d abc

SOURCE

       /src/cmd/test.c

SEE ALSO

       rc(1)

                                                                                     TEST(1plan9)