Test multiple file conditions in one swoop (BASH)?

Question

Often when writing for the bash shell, one needs to test if a file (or Directory) exists (or doesn\'t exist) and take appropriate action. Most common amongst these test are

Answer 1

You can use logical operators to multiple conditions, e.g. -a for AND:

MYFILE=/tmp/data.bin
if [ -f "$MYFILE"  -a  -r "$MYFILE"  -a  -w "$MYFILE" ]; then
    #do stuff
fi
unset MYFILE

Answer 2

check-file(){
    while [[ ${#} -gt 0 ]]; do
        case $1 in
           fxrsw) [[ -f "$2" && -x "$2" && -r "$2" && -s "$2" && -w "$2" ]] || return 1 ;;
            fxrs) [[ -f "$2" && -x "$2" && -r "$2" && -s "$2" ]] || return 1 ;;
             fxr) [[ -f "$2" && -x "$2" && -r "$2" ]] || return 1 ;;
              fr) [[ -f "$2" && -r "$2" ]] || return 1 ;;
              fx) [[ -f "$2" && -x "$2" ]] || return 1 ;;
              fe) [[ -f "$2" && -e "$2" ]] || return 1 ;;
              hf) [[ -h "$2" && -f "$2" ]] || return 1 ;;
               *) [[ -e "$1" ]] || return 1 ;;
        esac
        shift
    done
}

check-file fxr "/path/file" && echo "is valid"

check-file hf "/path/folder/symlink" || { echo "Fatal error cant validate symlink"; exit 1; }

check-file fe "file.txt" || touch "file.txt" && ln -s "${HOME}/file.txt" "/docs/file.txt" && check-file hf "/docs/file.txt" || exit 1

if check-file fxrsw "${HOME}"; then
    echo "Your home is your home from the looks of it."
else
    echo "You infected your own home."
fi

Answer 3

Of course, you need to use AND somehow as Kerrek(+1) and Ben(+1) pointed it out. You can do in in few different ways. Here is an ala-microbenchmark results for few methods:

Most portable and readable way:

$ time for i in $(seq 100000); do [ 1 = 1 ] && [ 2 = 2 ] && [ 3 = 3 ]; done
real    0m2.583s

still portable, less readable, faster:

$ time for i in $(seq 100000); do [ 1 = 1 -a 2 = 2 -a 3 = 3 ]; done
real    0m1.681s

bashism, but readable and faster

$ time for i in $(seq 100000); do [[ 1 = 1 ]] && [[ 2 = 2 ]] && [[ 3 = 3 ]]; done
real    0m1.285s

bashism, but quite readable, and fastest.

$ time for i in $(seq 100000); do [[ 1 = 1 && 2 = 2 && 3 = 3 ]]; done
real    0m0.934s

Note, that in bash, "[" is a builtin, so bash is using internal command not a symlink to /usr/bin/test exacutable. The "[[" is a bash keyword. So the slowest possible way will be:

time for i in $(seq 100000); do /usr/bin/\[ 1 = 1 ] && /usr/bin/\[ 2 = 2 ] && /usr/bin/\[ 3 = 3 ]; done
real    14m8.678s

Answer 4

Why not write a function to do it?

check_file () {
    local FLAGS=$1
    local PATH=$2
    if [ -z "$PATH" ] ; then
        if [ -z "$FLAGS" ] ; then
            echo "check_file: must specify at least a path" >&2
            exit 1
        fi
        PATH=$FLAGS
        FLAGS=-e
    fi
    FLAGS=${FLAGS#-}
    while [ -n "$FLAGS" ] ; do
        local FLAG=`printf "%c" "$FLAGS"`
        if [ ! -$FLAG $PATH ] ; then false; return; fi
        FLAGS=${FLAGS#?}
    done
    true
}

Then just use it like:

for path in / /etc /etc/passwd /bin/bash
{
    if check_file -dx $path ; then
        echo "$path is a directory and executable"
    else
        echo "$path is not a directory or not executable"
    fi
}

And you should get:

/ is a directory and executable
/etc is a directory and executable
/etc/passwd is not a directory or not executable
/bin/bash is not a directory or not executable

Answer 5

This seems to work (notice the double brackets):

#!/bin/bash

if [[ -fwd "/Library/Application Support" ]]
then
    echo 'YES SIR -f -w -d are fine'
else
    echo 'no -f or -w or -d for you'
fi

Answer 6

You want -a as in -f foo -a -d foo (actually that test would be false, but you get the idea).

You were close with & you just needed && as in [ -f foo ] && [ -d foo ] although that runs multiple commands rather than one.

Here is a manual page for test which is the command that [ is a link to. Modern implementations of test have a lot more features (along with the shell-builtin version [[ which is documented in your shell's manpage).