Re: [CentOS] Why does 'test -f' and 'test -e' return true on a (hidden) file that doesn't exist?

On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 04:43:28PM -0400, Marko A. Jennings alleged:

On Mon, March 31, 2008 4:37 pm, Tim Alberts wrote:

...

Why does 'test -f' and 'test -e' return true on a (hidden) file that doesn't exist?

*> cat /home/talberts/.forward* cat: /home/talberts/.forward: No such file or directory *> test -f /home/talberts/.forward ;echo $?* 1 *> test -e /home/talberts/.forward ;echo $?* 1

0 = exists 1 = does not exist

And to expand on that a bit... shell commands do not return the normal boolean true/false, they return zero for success and non-zero for errors.

Using non-zero for errors is handy for indicating the type or reason for the error.