Conditional expressions / Comparison Operators

Conditional expressions are often used by bracketed expressions and the test builtin.

-a file

True if file exists.

-b file

True if file exists and is a block special file.

-c file

True if file exists and is a character special file.

-d file

True if file exists and is a directory.

-e file

True if file exists.

-f file

True if file exists and is a regular file.

-g file

True if file exists and its set-group-id bit is set.

-h file

True if file exists and is a symbolic link.

-k file

True if file exists and its "sticky" bit is set.

-p file

True if file exists and is a named pipe (FIFO).

-r file

True if file exists and is readable.

-s file

True if file exists and has a size greater than zero.

-t fd

True if file descriptor fd is open and refers to a terminal.

-u file

True if file exists and its set-user-id bit is set.

-w file

True if file exists and is writable.

-x file

True if file exists and is executable.

-O file

True if file exists and is owned by the effective user id.

-G file

True if file exists and is owned by the effective group id.

-L file

True if file exists and is a symbolic link.

-S file

True if file exists and is a socket.

-N file

True if file exists and has been modified since it was last read.

file1 -nt file2

True if file1 is newer (according to modification date) than file2.

file1 -ot file2

True if file1 is older than file2.

file1 -ef file2

True if file1 and file2 have the same device and inode numbers.

-o optname

True if shell option optname is enabled. The list of options appears in the description of the '-o' option to set.

-z string

True if NULL, that is, if the length of string is zero.

-n string

True if the length of string is non-zero (not NULL).

string1 == string2

True if the strings are equal. '=' may be used in place of '=='.

string1 != string2

True if the strings are not equal.

string1 < string2

True if string1 sorts before string2 lexicographically in the current locale.

string1 > string2

True if string1 sorts after string2 lexicographically in the current locale.

arg1 OP arg2

OP is one of '-eq', '-ne', '-lt', '-le', '-gt', or '-ge'. These arithmetic binary operators return true if arg1 is equal to, not equal to, less than, less than or equal to, greater than, or greater than or equal to arg2, respectively. Arg1 and arg2 may be positive or negative integers.

 ! "not" -- reverse the sense of the tests above.
Try to avoid double negatives, they can usually be replaced with a single test.

If the file argument to one of the primaries is one of:
/dev/stdin
/dev/stdout
/dev/stderr
file descriptor 0, 1, or 2, respectively, is checked.
If the file argument to one of the primaries is of the form /dev/fd/N , then file descriptor N is checked.

Related linux commands:

Conditional Execution command-A AND/OR command-B
if - Conditionally perform a command.
Windows equivalent: Conditionals - IF THEN ELSE Execution.