CODEWITHSUNDEEP
shellif-statementshflags
Baxter
Baxter

Reputation: 5845

Shell Script -x Flag Meaning

I have a #!/bin/sh script that has the following line:

if [ ! -x "$TEST_SLAPD" ]

$TEST_SLAPD is the full path to a .bat file.

I am wondering what the -x flag means in the context of that if statement?

Upvotes: 4

Views: 19822

Answers (2)

Teftin
Teftin

Reputation: 846

if just checks for result of command following it. [ is not (at least not always) an operator, it's small utility called 'test'.

From its documentation:

-x file
                             True if file exists and is  exe-
                             cutable.   True  indicates  only
                             that the execute flag is on.  If
                             file  is a directory, true indi-
                             cates that file can be searched.

(and yes, ! is obviously negation)

For similar evualation flags, documentation is available here: http://illumos.org/man/1/test

Upvotes: 11

Todd A. Jacobs
Todd A. Jacobs

Reputation: 84343

The ! -x conditional means the file or directory doesn't have the executable bit set for the current user. The help is a little less clear about the fact that it applies to directories too, but it says:

$ help test | fgrep -- '-x'
      -x FILE        True if the file is executable by you.

Upvotes: 3

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