Re: Is this a bug in [[ -f ]]?

[Suvayu Ali]

Hi everyone,

Greg Wooledge <wooledg <at> eeg.ccf.org> writes:

> 
> On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 12:35:37PM -0400, Steven W. Orr wrote:
> > lrwxrwxrwx. 1 sorr fc    5 Aug 18 08:48 err -> errio
> > -rw-rw-r--. 1 sorr fc 3816 Aug 18 08:48 errio
> 
> > *836 > [[ -f err ]]
> > 837 > echo $?               # BAD answer
> > 0
> 
> Sounds like you want this:
> 
> http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/097 - How do I determine whether a
> symlink is dangling (broken)?
> 
> 

I follow the reasoning above, but I still have a related but not exactly the
same issue.

I am trying to test if a file exists and then source it. My problem is
the test succeeds even if the variable is empty! If I pass no argument
at all, it still succeeds. To give you an example:

$ unset bla
$ [ -f $bla ] && echo yes
yes
$ [ -f  ] && echo yes
yes

I don't understand this behaviour. I would have expected this to fail since $bla
is blank. Can someone please explain?

Thanks a lot.

PS: I am not subscribed to the list, could you please cc me to any responses.

-- 
Suvayu

Open source is the future. It sets us free.