CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bash
buydadip
buydadip

Reputation: 9437

bash- How to check if number of arguments exceed a certain number?

I'm trying to check if the number of arguments in my bash script exceeds the number 2, and exit with a non-zero exit status, but I keep getting the following error :

unexpected token `newline', conditional binary operator expected

This is my code:

if [[ #$ > 2 ]]
then
    echo "error" 1>&2
    exit 1
fi

This is very simple, but I can't figure out why I get this error. Am I not supposed to use double brackets in the if statement?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 324

Answers (2)

Gilles Quénot
Gilles Quénot

Reputation: 185530

if (( $# > 2 ))
then
    echo "error" >&2
    exit 1
fi

Check http://wiki.bash-hackers.org/syntax/arith_expr

Like greybot said on irc://irc.freenode.org/#bash : the tldp bash guide is outdated, and in some cases just plain wrong. There's a reason it isn't in the topic

Upvotes: 2

Dick Faps
Dick Faps

Reputation: 1

One way is to use arithmetic expansion:

if (( $# > 2 )) 
then
    echo "error" 1>&2
    exit 1
fi

Upvotes: 0

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