On Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 10:51:03AM +0200, Nicolas George wrote: > Zenaan Harkness (2018-08-17): > > But whilst the subsequent list of Bash builtin commands DOES include > > entries for ":" (the very first entry) and "test", it appears to fail > > to include entries for "true" and for "false". > > Maybe because it does the same thing as the standard and non-builtin > true and false? > > > $ test $? && > > Stop right there. "test $?" does not do what you think it does.
Aha. It's actually the Special Parameter "?", aka "$?" that I did not understand - I was treating it as a value, when actually it is something that expands, i.e. into a string, and not something that is treated as true or false. D∀nka shøn ⨟⟩ So! I guess the way to test the EXPANSION of the the most recent exit status, is to test it as a string value, assuming use of the token "$?". Seems clunky. Is there a "cleaner" way to test the true/ error exit status other than using "$?", with bonus points for working in posix sh as well as Bash, ? TIA,