i just recently found this file

# ls -l /bin/[
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 24376 2006-06-24 21:59 /bin/[*

# file /bin/[
/bin/[: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped


# ldd /bin/[
linux-gate.so.1 => (0xb7fc9000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/tls/libc.so.6 (0xb7e7c000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb7fca000)


anyone know what this is?

Yes, it is the "[" command of course.
Serious! It is used in scripts mostly.

Eric

It's a test like 'if'.

[[ a == b ]] && 'some command'
is pretty much the same as
if [[ a == b ]]; then 'some command'

lol really???? i would think that would be a part of bash and not a seperate binary file like the command `cd`. which package is it under?

found the package where it belongs. coreutils. wow you learn new things everyday.

Actually, it is a builtin, but is also available as an external. And '[' and '[[' are distinct - the first is a synonym for the older 'test' command and the second is a reserved word which doesn't do word splitting and pathname expansion 'on the words between the [[ and ]]', which can screw you up with the '[' builtin if you don't quote carefully.

lol, this is the second time someone has asked this. Yeah, it definitely looks suspicious ... but it's just like 'test', and part of bash.

Just try:
$ [ --help

But follow that by doing this:
/usr/bin/[ --help
and you'll get a different output.
On systems the '[' is a link to 'test'.
Most scripting relies on the internal capabilites of the shell to process conditons -which can include a whole range of functions which are also available as external programs: [, [[, test, true, false and also the handling of 'if' statements which is the same thing(0,1) and don't forget about && and ||.
Different shells handle (or not) these things their own way.
When you see code like this:
if [[ something else...
it's really like three ifs or three tests. But there is usually a reason for doing it one way or another -either with test, single bracket or double bracket. For instance this 'or' doesn't work with double brackets
using BASH.
This:
[ "test1" = "not" -o "test2" = "so" ]
this:
if test "test1" = "not" -o "test2" = "so" ; then
and this:
[[ "test1" = "not" ]] || [[ "test2" = "so" ]] &&
all will do mostly the same thing depending on what's being tested.

It's been a lot more than twice! Anybody who looks into what's on his system (especially Slackers) will notice it and start wondering I remember thinking "who rooted my system " the day I saw it.