fish-shell/doc_src/test.txt
Geoff Nixon 60808a4820 Enhance/fix isatty using command test.
Presently, `isatty` only works on a handful of keywords. Here it
  is rewritten to be able to take any path, device or fd number as
  an argument, and eliminates errors printed to stdout.
  Per discussion in #1228, using `builtin test -c` within a pipe to
  test special file descriptors is not viable, so this implementation
  specifcially uses `command test`. Additionally, a note has been
  added to the documentation of `test` regarding this potential
  aberration from the expected output of the test utility under the
  'Standards' section.
2014-01-28 11:14:54 -08:00

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\section test test - perform tests on files and text
\subsection test-synopsis Synopsis
<tt>test [EXPRESSION]</tt>
\subsection test-description Description
Tests the expression given and sets the exit status to 0 if true,
and 1 if false. An expression is made up of one or more operators
and their arguments.
The following operators are available to examine files and directories:
- <tt>-b FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE is a block device.
- <tt>-c FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE is a character device.
- <tt>-d FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE is a directory.
- <tt>-e FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE exists.
- <tt>-f FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE is a regular file.
- <tt>-g FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE has the set-group-ID bit set.
- <tt>-G FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE exists and has the same group ID
as the current user.
- <tt>-L FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE is a symbolic link.
- <tt>-O FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE exists and is owned by the current
user.
- <tt>-p FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE is a named pipe.
- <tt>-r FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE is marked as readable.
- <tt>-s FILE</tt> returns true if the size of \c FILE is greater than zero.
- <tt>-S FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE is a socket.
- <tt>-t FD</tt> returns true if the file descriptor \c FD is a terminal (TTY).
- <tt>-u FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE has the set-user-ID bit set.
- <tt>-w FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE is marked as writable; note that this does not check if the filesystem is read-only.
- <tt>-x FILE</tt> returns true if \c FILE is marked as executable.
The following operators are available to compare and examine text strings:
- <tt>STRING1 = STRING2</tt> returns true if the strings \c STRING1 and
\c STRING2 are identical.
- <tt>STRING1 != STRING2</tt> returns true if the strings \c STRING1 and
\c STRING2 are not identical.
- <tt>-n STRING</tt> returns true if the length of \c STRING is non-zero.
- <tt>-z STRING</tt> returns true if the length of \c STRING is zero.
The following operators are available to compare and examine numbers:
- <tt>NUM1 -eq NUM2</tt> returns true if \c NUM1 and \c NUM2 are numerically equal.
- <tt>NUM1 -ne NUM2</tt> returns true if \c NUM1 and \c NUM2 are not numerically equal.
- <tt>NUM1 -gt NUM2</tt> returns true if \c NUM1 is greater than <tt>NUM2</tt>.
- <tt>NUM1 -ge NUM2</tt> returns true if \c NUM1 is greater than or equal to <tt>NUM2</tt>.
- <tt>NUM1 -lt NUM2</tt> returns true if \c NUM1 is less than <tt>NUM2</tt>.
- <tt>NUM1 -le NUM2</tt> returns true if \c NUM1 is less than or equal to <tt>NUM2</tt>.
Note that only integers are supported. For more complex mathematical
operations, including fractions, the \c env program may be useful. Consult the
documentation for your operating system.
Expressions can be combined using the following operators:
- <tt>COND1 -a COND2</tt> returns true if both \c COND1 and \c COND2 are true.
- <tt>COND1 -o COND2</tt> returns true if either \c COND1 or \c COND2 are true.
Expressions can be inverted using the \c ! operator:
- <tt>! EXPRESSION</tt> returns true if \c EXPRESSION is false, and false if
\c EXPRESSION is true.
Expressions can be grouped using parentheses.
- <tt>( EXPRESSION )</tt> returns the value of <tt>EXPRESSION</tt>.
Note that parentheses will usually require escaping with <tt>\\(</tt> to avoid
being interpreted as a command substitution.
\subsection test-example Examples
If the \c /tmp directory exists, copy the \c /etc/motd file to it:
<pre>
if test -d /tmp
cp /etc/motd /tmp/motd
end
</pre>
If the variable \c MANPATH is defined and not empty, print the contents:
<pre>
if test -n $MANPATH
echo $MANPATH
end
</pre>
Parentheses and the \c -o and \c -a operators can be combined to produce
more complicated expressions. In this example, success is printed if there is
a \c /foo or \c /bar file as well as a \c /baz or \c /bat file.
<pre>
if test \\( -f /foo -o -f /bar \\) -a \\( -f /baz -o -f /bat \\)
echo Success.
end.
</pre>
\subsection test-standards Standards
\c test implements a subset of the
<a href="http://www.unix.com/man-page/POSIX/1/test/">IEEE Std 1003.1-2008
(POSIX.1) standard</a>. The following exceptions apply:
- The \c < and \c > operators for comparing strings are not implemented.
- Because this test is a shell builtin and not a standalone utility, using
the -c flag on a special file descriptors like standard input and output
may not return the same result when invoked from within a pipe as one
would expect when invoking the \c test utility in another shell.
In cases such as this, one can use \c command \c test to explicitly
use the system's standalone \c test rather than this \c builtin \c test.