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Joachim Ansorg edited this page Nov 12, 2021 · 3 revisions

[ 0 ] is true. Use false instead.

Problematic code:

if [ 0 ]
then
  echo "always triggers"
fi

Correct code:

if false
then
  echo "never triggers"
fi

Rationale:

[ str ] checks whether str is non-empty. It doesn't matter if str is 0, it will still be evaluated for non-emptyness.

Instead, use the command false which -- as the manual puts it -- does nothing, unsuccessfully.

Exceptions:

None

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