Ubuntu
bash package

/usr/bin/[

Asked by oddemirci

Just because of curiosity:

What is the file:

'/usr/bin/['

It seems to be binary, but I cannot run it. Also, I could not find anything related to this file on the web.

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Brian Gallew
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Best Brian Gallew (geek+work) said : 		#1

[ is an alias for "test" and is frequently used in shell scripts. When you see "if [ -e /some/file ]" the "[" in there is really running that file unless it happens to be a shell built-in.

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Matt Perry (mp) said : 		#2

It's part of the GNU coreutils package. That particular program is associated with the 'test' program. Run 'man test' to see more.

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oddemirci (oddemirci) said : 		#3

Hi Brian, thank you for the answer. I am new to Linux and learning details every day.

Interestingly googling "/usr/bin/[" does not give anything, neither does "if [ -e". Anyway, thank you.

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oddemirci (oddemirci) said : 		#4

Hi Matt, thank you for the reference for "man test". It was helpful.