shell and test command

[foottuns]

I write a shell script but now what i want to do is to use the test command and to be honest with you i really don't know, can someone give me some advices and how to use it?

best regards dan,

[khafa]

if the man page is not clear, check this link out

[foottuns]

ok, i seen that page, but what i don't know is how to test it where to add that script?
do i have to create another shell file or can be done inside the same file.


regards dan,

[khafa]

what do you want to test?

[Cabhan]

While some more information would be useful, here is an example of test being used:

var1=5
var2=6

if [ "$var2" -gt "$var1" ]; then
    echo "var2 is greater than var1"
fi

Here I am using the (far more common) [ ... ] alias for test. "-gt" is the test for integer greater-than, so this tests if the value in $var2 is greater than the value in $var1.

Does that help?

[foottuns]

hello there, yeah a bit does help, the thing is, i have a shell file and i have to test it with test command, this is a coursework from school and everything is working well until this test command thing, i just need to test it, nothing much, so the code which you supply me above was great but where to add it, do i need to create a new shell file and then run it? or i should stick this code in the same shell fine? this is where i am lost......

thanks for your help...

[Cabhan]

So as a general rule, homework questions are not allowed on the forum.

I still don't understand your problem, so I can't even tell you where to find more information. This construct is a basic conditional statement: it allows you to have different behaviour depending on the status of the program or some input that the user gave.