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Simon Hodgson
Asked: 2009-08-06 05:50:03 +0800 CST

How to check a file exists

  • 772

How do I determine that a file exists using a shell script?

I.e:

#!/bin/sh

if [ Does File Exist? ]
then
    do this thing
fi
linux unix-shell

6 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    You probably want /bin/bash unless you need to use /bin/sh, /bin/sh is more restricted. So if you are using bash:

    Like so: 

     if [[ -e filename ]]; then
    echo 'exists'
 fi

    If your filename is in a variable, then use the following, the double quotes are important if the file has a space in it:

    if [[ -e "$myFile" ]]; then
   echo 'exists'
fi

    If you are using sh, and want to be compatible with the IEEE Std 1003.1,2004 Edition, then use single brackets instead. The -e switch is still supported.

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  3. if [ -f filename ]

    will test for the existence of a regular file. There are other switches you can pass it to check for an executable or other attributes of a file.

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  4. Reference page for file testing

    Once you run through all those pages,
    Keep this Reference sheet handy.

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  5. There is always the man pages:

    man test

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  6. Just to note that if you want something that works across all sh shells (not only bash) and cross-platform, the only way is:

    ls filename >/dev/null 2>&1
if [ $? = 0 ]; then
   echo "File exists"
fi
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