meaning of if [ -z $SOMETHING....] in bash shell
 

Hi,
I have the following in a bash script file if [ -z "$SOMETHING" ]
I have searched for the -z option for an hour in Bash References, every other option is covered except for '-z' I assume this means is $SOMETHING defined in the environment but can anyone give me a definitive answer.

I applaud you searching around but "man test" is what you're looking for (string with length zero).

I never would have guessed 'man test', but surprised I couldn't google for if [ -z,

thanks for the help.

To google it you'd prob need single quote marks around that.

"man [" would have worked too.

And people wonder why *nux is considered not newbie friendly ...
For the greater proportion of the human race, that is just too arcane.

Not if a newbie had the patience to read a good beginners' guide! ;)

Example 7-2 in
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/testconstructs.html

I would hazard a guess that "the greater proportion of the human race" isn't involved in shell scripting at all. Which kind of makes your point moot.