On Mon, Feb 09, 2015 at 09:00:12PM +0000, Cheng Rk wrote: > -f FILE True if file exists and is a regular file. > > but why it returned true on a symlink to a regular file? > > $ [ -f tmp/sym-link ] && echo true > true
It's supposed to work this way. -f resolves symlinks and tests the target location. If you want to determine whether something is a symlink, you need to test that explicitly with -L or -h. imadev:~$ ln -s /etc/passwd linktopasswd imadev:~$ [ -f linktopasswd ] && echo true true imadev:~$ [ -L linktopasswd ] && echo true true Similarly, to test for a dangling symlink, you need to apply at least two separate tests: imadev:~$ ln -s nosuchthing dangling imadev:~$ [ -f dangling ] && echo true imadev:~$ [ -L dangling ] && echo true true
