Check if file exist Linux bash

Question

So I'm trying to check if a file exists or not and then the script is supposed to do something if it does. The problem I'm having is actually getting it to recognize that something is actually there.

if [ -e /temp/file.txt ]; then
        echo "file found!"
        sudo cp -r temp/* extra
else
        echo "file not found! Creating new one..."
        ./create.sh
fi

below is an example of the files in the directory I'm testing. they are clearly there, but for some reason I can't get the script to see that. what am I doing wrong?

nima@mkt:/docs/text$ ls -a temp
.  ..  more  file.txt  file2.txt

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered May 19 '12 at 08:20

12

You are using absolute paths in your test while you should be using relative paths:

 if [ -e ./temp/file.txt ]; then

answered May 19 '12 at 08:20

Dima Chubarov

16,199
6
40
76

it seems i was not spelling a directory correctly. thx for the help anyway :P – Painguy May 19 '12 at 08:30

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 19 '12 at 08:20

2

/temp/file.txt vs /docs/text/temp/file.txt?

answered May 19 '12 at 08:20

John Carter

53,924
26
111
144

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 19 '12 at 08:21

1

You script looks in /temp while you are looking in /docs/text/temp

answered May 19 '12 at 08:21

Sven

22,475
4
52
71

Check if file exist Linux bash

3 Answers3