TEST(1)

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

STRING1 > STRING2
    STRING1 is greater than STRING2 in the current locale

STRING1 < STRING2
    STRING1 is less than STRING2 in the current locale

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.

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

'[' honors --help and --version, but 'test' treats them as STRINGs.

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
Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2025 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'