What is the meaning of -n, -z, -x, -L, -d, etc... in Shell Script?

Question

I often find on files .sh Shell Script in conditionals sintaxis like these:

if [ -n "condition" ]; then ...
if [ -z "condition "]; then ...
if [ -x "condition" ]; then ...
if [ -L "condition" ]; then ...
if [ -d "condition" ]; then ...

Those -n, -z, -x, -L, -d are functions or how is it name and what is it purpose?

http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/sect_07_01.html — Sergio Tulentsev, Nov 15 '18 at 12:50
They're normal command line arguments for the `[` program. See [`man [`](http://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/test.1.html). — melpomene, Nov 15 '18 at 12:52
**1.** Since you make use of the `test` command (synonym to `[ ... ]`). Have a look at `man test`. **2.** be aware that there is a difference between `[ ... ]` and `[[ ... ]]` (See http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/031) — kvantour, Nov 15 '18 at 12:55
related: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10204562, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/669452, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3869072 — kvantour, Nov 15 '18 at 13:02

RavinderSingh13 · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-15T13:28:28.787

IMHO best way is you could simply do man test for all these details. It is very well explained there. As follows is the text from man page. For BASH conditional expressions look for link https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Bash-Conditional-Expressions.html too once.

   -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)

   -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 read permission is granted

   -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 write permission is granted

   -x FILE
          FILE exists and execute (or search) permission is granted

For expressions in man test it is given:

   ( 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

For conditional expressions info go for man bash it gives info as follows too.

CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS Conditional expressions are used by the [[ compound command and the test and [ builtin commands to test file attributes and perform string and arithmetic comparisons. Expressions are formed from the following unary or binary primaries. If any file argument to one of the primaries is of the form /dev/fd/n, then file descriptor n is checked. If the file argument to one of the primaries is one of /dev/stdin, /dev/stdout, or /dev/stderr, file descriptor 0, 1, or 2, respectively, is checked.
   Unless otherwise specified, primaries that operate on files follow symbolic links and operate on the target of the link, rather 
than the link itself.
   When used with [[, The < and > operators sort lexicographically using the current locale.

`man test`. Man, I didn't know it's part of the built test command. — Noam Manos, Oct 06 '20 at 08:01

What is the meaning of -n, -z, -x, -L, -d, etc... in Shell Script?

1 Answers1