Bash 'or'

Wynd · 04-05-2003, 03:27 PM

How can I use an 'or' statement in the bash language? I have one integer variable and one string variable, if that makes a difference. All the stuff I try gets me expression expected errors. This is my code, basically:

Code:

if [ "$a" -eq 0 ] || [ "$b" -eq "" ]
then
    echo "Error 1"
elif [ "$c" -eq 0 ] || [ "$d" -eq "" ]
then
    echo "Error 2"
fi

acid_kewpie · 04-05-2003, 03:35 PM

if you check on the man page for tet you'll see that you want the -o option for a logical or.

revrendi · 04-07-2003, 02:53 AM

That's the man page for test. When bash evaluates an expression inside brackets it's the same thing as using test. So your expression translated should be something like:

if [ "$a" -eq 0 -o "$b" -eq "" ]
then
echo "Error"
.....

But your error is probably with the:

"$b" -eq ""

The empty quotes aren't a valid argument to the -eq operation, which expects an integer. What you probably want to do is something more like:

if [ "$a" -eq 0 -o -z "$b" ]
then
echo "Error 1"
elif [ "$c" -eq 0 -o -z "$d" ]
then
echo "Error 2"
fi

And make sure that both $a and $c are defined, otherwise you have the same issue. -- Rev