7.3. Other Comparison Operators

A binary comparison operator compares two variables or quantities. Note that integer and string comparison use a different set of operators.

integer comparison

-eq

is equal to

if [ "$a" -eq "$b" ]

-ne

is not equal to

if [ "$a" -ne "$b" ]

-gt

is greater than

if [ "$a" -gt "$b" ]

-ge

is greater than or equal to

if [ "$a" -ge "$b" ]

-lt

is less than

if [ "$a" -lt "$b" ]

-le

is less than or equal to

if [ "$a" -le "$b" ]

<

is less than (within double parentheses)

(("$a" < "$b"))

<=

is less than or equal to (within double parentheses)

(("$a" <= "$b"))

>

is greater than (within double parentheses)

(("$a" > "$b"))

>=

is greater than or equal to (within double parentheses)

(("$a" >= "$b"))

string comparison

=

is equal to

if [ "$a" = "$b" ]

Caution

Note the whitespace framing the =.

if [ "$a"="$b" ] is not equivalent to the above.

==

is equal to

if [ "$a" == "$b" ]

This is a synonym for =.

Note

The == comparison operator behaves differently within a double-brackets test than within single brackets.
   1 [[ $a == z* ]]   # True if $a starts with an "z" (pattern matching).
   2 [[ $a == "z*" ]] # True if $a is equal to z* (literal matching).
   3 
   4 [ $a == z* ]     # File globbing and word splitting take place.
   5 [ "$a" == "z*" ] # True if $a is equal to z* (literal matching).
   6 
   7 # Thanks, Stéphane Chazelas

!=

is not equal to

if [ "$a" != "$b" ]

This operator uses pattern matching within a [[ ... ]] construct.

<

is less than, in ASCII alphabetical order

if [[ "$a" < "$b" ]]

if [ "$a" \< "$b" ]

Note that the "<" needs to be escaped within a [ ] construct.

>

is greater than, in ASCII alphabetical order

if [[ "$a" > "$b" ]]

if [ "$a" \> "$b" ]

Note that the ">" needs to be escaped within a [ ] construct.

See Example 27-11 for an application of this comparison operator.

-z

string is null, that is, has zero length

   1  String=''   # Zero-length ("null") string variable.
   2 
   3 if [ -z "$String" ]
   4 then
   5   echo "\$String is null."
   6 else
   7   echo "\$String is NOT null."
   8 fi     # $String is null.

-n

string is not null.

Caution

The -n test requires that the string be quoted within the test brackets. Using an unquoted string with ! -z, or even just the unquoted string alone within test brackets (see Example 7-6) normally works, however, this is an unsafe practice. Always quote a tested string. [1]


Example 7-5. Arithmetic and string comparisons

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 
   3 a=4
   4 b=5
   5 
   6 #  Here "a" and "b" can be treated either as integers or strings.
   7 #  There is some blurring between the arithmetic and string comparisons,
   8 #+ since Bash variables are not strongly typed.
   9 
  10 #  Bash permits integer operations and comparisons on variables
  11 #+ whose value consists of all-integer characters.
  12 #  Caution advised, however.
  13 
  14 echo
  15 
  16 if [ "$a" -ne "$b" ]
  17 then
  18   echo "$a is not equal to $b"
  19   echo "(arithmetic comparison)"
  20 fi
  21 
  22 echo
  23 
  24 if [ "$a" != "$b" ]
  25 then
  26   echo "$a is not equal to $b."
  27   echo "(string comparison)"
  28   #     "4"  != "5"
  29   # ASCII 52 != ASCII 53
  30 fi
  31 
  32 # In this particular instance, both "-ne" and "!=" work.
  33 
  34 echo
  35 
  36 exit 0


Example 7-6. Testing whether a string is null

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 #  str-test.sh: Testing null strings and unquoted strings,
   3 #+ but not strings and sealing wax, not to mention cabbages and kings . . .
   4 
   5 # Using   if [ ... ]
   6 
   7 # If a string has not been initialized, it has no defined value.
   8 # This state is called "null" (not the same as zero!).
   9 
  10 if [ -n $string1 ]    # string1 has not been declared or initialized.
  11 then
  12   echo "String \"string1\" is not null."
  13 else  
  14   echo "String \"string1\" is null."
  15 fi                    # Wrong result.
  16 # Shows $string1 as not null, although it was not initialized.
  17 
  18 echo
  19 
  20 # Let's try it again.
  21 
  22 if [ -n "$string1" ]  # This time, $string1 is quoted.
  23 then
  24   echo "String \"string1\" is not null."
  25 else  
  26   echo "String \"string1\" is null."
  27 fi                    # Quote strings within test brackets!
  28 
  29 echo
  30 
  31 if [ $string1 ]       # This time, $string1 stands naked.
  32 then
  33   echo "String \"string1\" is not null."
  34 else  
  35   echo "String \"string1\" is null."
  36 fi                    # This works fine.
  37 # The [ ... ] test operator alone detects whether the string is null.
  38 # However it is good practice to quote it (if [ "$string1" ]).
  39 #
  40 # As Stephane Chazelas points out,
  41 #    if [ $string1 ]    has one argument, "]"
  42 #    if [ "$string1" ]  has two arguments, the empty "$string1" and "]" 
  43 
  44 
  45 echo
  46 
  47 
  48 string1=initialized
  49 
  50 if [ $string1 ]       # Again, $string1 stands unquoted.
  51 then
  52   echo "String \"string1\" is not null."
  53 else  
  54   echo "String \"string1\" is null."
  55 fi                    # Again, gives correct result.
  56 # Still, it is better to quote it ("$string1"), because . . .
  57 
  58 
  59 string1="a = b"
  60 
  61 if [ $string1 ]       # Again, $string1 stands unquoted.
  62 then
  63   echo "String \"string1\" is not null."
  64 else  
  65   echo "String \"string1\" is null."
  66 fi                    # Not quoting "$string1" now gives wrong result!
  67 
  68 exit 0   # Thank you, also, Florian Wisser, for the "heads-up".


Example 7-7. zmore

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 # zmore
   3 
   4 # View gzipped files with 'more' filter.
   5 
   6 E_NOARGS=85
   7 E_NOTFOUND=86
   8 E_NOTGZIP=87
   9 
  10 if [ $# -eq 0 ] # same effect as:  if [ -z "$1" ]
  11 # $1 can exist, but be empty:  zmore "" arg2 arg3
  12 then
  13   echo "Usage: `basename $0` filename" >&2
  14   # Error message to stderr.
  15   exit $E_NOARGS
  16   # Returns 85 as exit status of script (error code).
  17 fi  
  18 
  19 filename=$1
  20 
  21 if [ ! -f "$filename" ]   # Quoting $filename allows for possible spaces.
  22 then
  23   echo "File $filename not found!" >&2   # Error message to stderr.
  24   exit $E_NOTFOUND
  25 fi  
  26 
  27 if [ ${filename##*.} != "gz" ]
  28 # Using bracket in variable substitution.
  29 then
  30   echo "File $1 is not a gzipped file!"
  31   exit $E_NOTGZIP
  32 fi  
  33 
  34 zcat $1 | more
  35 
  36 # Uses the 'more' filter.
  37 # May substitute 'less' if desired.
  38 
  39 exit $?   # Script returns exit status of pipe.
  40 #  Actually "exit $?" is unnecessary, as the script will, in any case,
  41 #+ return the exit status of the last command executed.

compound comparison

-a

logical and

exp1 -a exp2 returns true if both exp1 and exp2 are true.

-o

logical or

exp1 -o exp2 returns true if either exp1 or exp2 is true.

These are similar to the Bash comparison operators && and ||, used within double brackets.
   1 [[ condition1 && condition2 ]]

The -o and -a operators work with the test command or occur within single test brackets.
   1 if [ "$expr1" -a "$expr2" ]
   2 then
   3   echo "Both expr1 and expr2 are true."
   4 else
   5   echo "Either expr1 or expr2 is false."
   6 fi

Caution

But, as rihad points out:
   1 [ 1 -eq 1 ] && [ -n "`echo true 1>&2`" ]   # true
   2 [ 1 -eq 2 ] && [ -n "`echo true 1>&2`" ]   # (no output)
   3 # ^^^^^^^ False condition. So far, everything as expected.
   4 
   5 # However ...
   6 [ 1 -eq 2 -a -n "`echo true 1>&2`" ]       # true
   7 # ^^^^^^^ False condition. So, why "true" output?
   8 
   9 # Is it because both condition clauses within brackets evaluate?
  10 [[ 1 -eq 2 && -n "`echo true 1>&2`" ]]     # (no output)
  11 # No, that's not it.
  12 
  13 # Apparently && and || "short-circuit" while -a and -o do not.

Refer to Example 8-3, Example 27-17, and Example A-29 to see compound comparison operators in action.

Notes

[1]

As S.C. points out, in a compound test, even quoting the string variable might not suffice. [ -n "$string" -o "$a" = "$b" ] may cause an error with some versions of Bash if $string is empty. The safe way is to append an extra character to possibly empty variables, [ "x$string" != x -o "x$a" = "x$b" ] (the "x's" cancel out).