7.3. Other Comparison Operators

A binary comparison operator compares two variables or quantities. Note the separation between integer and string comparison.

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" ]

==

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, Stephane 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 26-11 for an application of this comparison operator.

-z

string is "null", that is, has zero length

-n

string is not "null".

Caution

The -n test absolutely 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.
  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 
   8 # If a string has not been initialized, it has no defined value.
   9 # This state is called "null" (not the same as zero).
  10 
  11 if [ -n $string1 ]    # $string1 has not been declared or initialized.
  12 then
  13   echo "String \"string1\" is not null."
  14 else  
  15   echo "String \"string1\" is null."
  16 fi  
  17 # Wrong result.
  18 # Shows $string1 as not null, although it was not initialized.
  19 
  20 
  21 echo
  22 
  23 
  24 # Lets try it again.
  25 
  26 if [ -n "$string1" ]  # This time, $string1 is quoted.
  27 then
  28   echo "String \"string1\" is not null."
  29 else  
  30   echo "String \"string1\" is null."
  31 fi                    # Quote strings within test brackets!
  32 
  33 
  34 echo
  35 
  36 
  37 if [ $string1 ]       # This time, $string1 stands naked.
  38 then
  39   echo "String \"string1\" is not null."
  40 else  
  41   echo "String \"string1\" is null."
  42 fi  
  43 # This works fine.
  44 # The [ ] test operator alone detects whether the string is null.
  45 # However it is good practice to quote it ("$string1").
  46 #
  47 # As Stephane Chazelas points out,
  48 #    if [ $string1 ]    has one argument, "]"
  49 #    if [ "$string1" ]  has two arguments, the empty "$string1" and "]" 
  50 
  51 
  52 
  53 echo
  54 
  55 
  56 
  57 string1=initialized
  58 
  59 if [ $string1 ]       # Again, $string1 stands naked.
  60 then
  61   echo "String \"string1\" is not null."
  62 else  
  63   echo "String \"string1\" is null."
  64 fi  
  65 # Again, gives correct result.
  66 # Still, it is better to quote it ("$string1"), because . . .
  67 
  68 
  69 string1="a = b"
  70 
  71 if [ $string1 ]       # Again, $string1 stands naked.
  72 then
  73   echo "String \"string1\" is not null."
  74 else  
  75   echo "String \"string1\" is null."
  76 fi  
  77 # Not quoting "$string1" now gives wrong result!
  78 
  79 exit 0
  80 # Thank you, also, Florian Wisser, for the "heads-up".


Example 7-7. zmost

   1 #!/bin/bash
   2 
   3 #View gzipped files with 'most'
   4 
   5 NOARGS=65
   6 NOTFOUND=66
   7 NOTGZIP=67
   8 
   9 if [ $# -eq 0 ] # same effect as:  if [ -z "$1" ]
  10 # $1 can exist, but be empty:  zmost "" arg2 arg3
  11 then
  12   echo "Usage: `basename $0` filename" >&2
  13   # Error message to stderr.
  14   exit $NOARGS
  15   # Returns 65 as exit status of script (error code).
  16 fi  
  17 
  18 filename=$1
  19 
  20 if [ ! -f "$filename" ]   # Quoting $filename allows for possible spaces.
  21 then
  22   echo "File $filename not found!" >&2
  23   # Error message to stderr.
  24   exit $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 $NOTGZIP
  32 fi  
  33 
  34 zcat $1 | most
  35 
  36 # Uses the file viewer 'most' (similar to 'less').
  37 # Later versions of 'most' have file decompression capabilities.
  38 # May substitute 'more' or 'less', if desired.
  39 
  40 
  41 exit $?   # Script returns exit status of pipe.
  42 # Actually "exit $?" is unnecessary, as the script will, in any case,
  43 # 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 are 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 [ "$exp1" -a "$exp2" ]

Refer to Example 8-3 and Example 26-16 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).