TEST(1)				  User Commands				 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  super-
     sedes  the version described here.	 Please refer to your shell's documenta-
     tion 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 (C) 2026 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'

GNU coreutils 9.11		   April 2026				 TEST(1)