CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bash
slightly_awake
slightly_awake

Reputation: 13

Check if a file exists irrespective of its type

So I want to know if a given path exists (may not necessarily be a directory.) I know that you can test if a directory exists with [ -d "$arg" ], but I want to know how to test if any path exists, not whether it is a directory. Can someone point me in the direction to where to look.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 75

Answers (2)

oguz ismail
oguz ismail

Reputation: 50750

That's what -e primary does (except for symlinks though, test builtin follows symbolic links and operate on the target of the link, rather than the link itself).

[ -e "$arg" ]

An alternative that works with symlinks as well (requires GNU find):

find "$arg" -quit 2>/dev/null

Upvotes: 1

Ivan
Ivan

Reputation: 7277

You can do that with ls

ls $path &> /dev/null && echo 'yep' || echo 'nop'

Upvotes: 0

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