Check if file exists bash example

We can use find command and then suppress the output to check if the target directory has some content or not. Again as I said since there is no easy way to check if a directory is empty or not using some attributes, we will list the content of the directory.

If you get no output then the directory is empty or else not empty. Similarly there are many more attributes which you can use with shell scripts to check for different file types, such as symbolic links, file permissions etc. Attributes What it does? In this tutorial I shared brief examples of test operators to check for files and directories. You can use any attribute from the table I have shared to enhance your script execution with proper tests.

Lastly I hope the steps from the article to check if file exists or not on Linux was helpful. So, let me know your suggestions and feedback using the comment section. If my articles on GoLinuxCloud has helped you, kindly consider buying me a coffee as a token of appreciation. For any other feedbacks or questions you can either use the comments section or contact me form. Most of this stuff has been really helpful. But there is no difference in single and double square brackets on the -f example.

I always prefer to use double brackets as a general practice as it avoid unexpected surprises at times. Asked 6 years, 6 months ago. Active 3 years, 11 months ago.

Viewed 23k times. Improve this question. Josh Pinto Josh Pinto 1, 4 4 gold badges 15 15 silver badges 34 34 bronze badges. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. For more information simply execute man test. A note on variables Be sure to quote variables too, once you have a space or any other special character contained in a variable it can have undesired side effects.

Fixing the syntax error You are experiencing a syntax error in the control statements. A bash if clause is structured as following: if Resulting in following code: if [! Improve this answer. ShellFish ShellFish 4, 1 1 gold badge 18 18 silver badges 32 32 bronze badges.

Changing test -e That's because your syntax is wrong. I'll update the answer. By "negate the condition" you mean the exclamation point! The exclamation point transforms a true in a false and the other way around. You can't skip the then part of the if statement, easiest solution would be to just negate the test if [[! RSchulze RSchulze 5 5 bronze badges. This is great. For me, works for both directories OR files. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google.

In Bash, you can use the test command to check whether a file exists and determine the type of the file. If you want your script to be portable, you should prefer using the old test [ command, which is available on all POSIX shells. The new upgraded version of the test command [[ double brackets is supported on most modern systems using Bash, Zsh, and Ksh as a default shell.

When checking if a file exists, the most commonly used FILE operators are -e and -f. The first one will check whether a file exists regardless of the type, while the second one will return true only if the FILE is a regular file not a directory or a device.