FreeKB - Bash Shell Scripting if, elif, else, then statements

In bash, an if statement has the following structure.

if [ comparison ]; then
  --do something--
elif [ comparison ]
  --do something
else
  --do something--
fi

For example.

if [ $foo -eq 1 ]; then
  echo "Foo equals 1"

elif [ $foo -eq 2 ]
  echo "Foo equals 2"

else
  echo "Foo does not equal 1 or 2"

fi

The following table contains commonly used comparison operators.

Equals (integers)	if [ $foo -eq 1 ]; then
Does not equal (integers)	if [ $foo -ne 1 ]; then
Equals (strings)	if [ "$foo" == "Hello" ]; then
Does not equal (strings)	if [ "$foo" != "Hello" ]; then
Greater than	if [ $foo -gt 1 ]; then
Greater than or equal to	if [ $foo -ge 1 ]; then
Less than	if [ $foo -lt 1 ]; then
Less than or equal to	if [ $foo -le 1 ]; then
Variable contains no value (null / empty)	if [ -z "$foo" ]; then
Variable contains a value (not null / not empty)	if [ ! -z "$foo" ]; then
File exists	if [ -e "/path/to/file" ]; then
File does not exist	if [ ! -e "/path/to/file" ]; then
File is empty	if [ ! -s "/path/to/file" ]; then
File is not empty	if [ -s "/path/to/file" ]; then
File contains	if grep --quiet "Hello World" /path/to/file; then
File does not contain	if ! grep --quiet "Hello World" /path/to/file; then
Directory exists	if [ -d "/home/test" ]; then
Directory does not exist	if [ ! -d "/home/test" ]; then
Directory empty	if [ -z "$(ls -A /path/to/directory)" ]; then
Directory not empty	if [ ! -z "$(ls -A /path/to/directory)" ]; then
Variable contains	if [[ $foo = Hello ]]; then
Variable does not contain	if [[ $foo != Hello ]]; then
Variable begins with	if [[ $foo =~ ^Hello ]]; then
Variable does not begin with	if [[ ! $foo =~ ^Hello ]]; then
Variable ends with (do not place double quotes around value)	if [[ $foo =~ Hello$ ]]; then
Variable does not end with (do not place double quotes around value)	if [[ ! $foo =~ Hello$ ]]; then
Array contains	if [[ "${array[@]}" =~ "$value" ]]; then
Array does not contain	if [[ ! "${array[@]}" =~ "$value" ]]; then

Spacing

Many if statements requre a single white space inside of the brackets. I also use a single white space as my practice.

And (&&), Or (||)

Double && characters can be used to link statements together as an and.

if [ $foo -eq 1 ] && [ $bar -eq 1 ]

if [[ $foo == "Hello" && $bar == "World" ]]

Double || characters can be used to link statements together as an or.

if [ $foo -eq 1 ] || [ $bar -eq 1 ]

if [[ $foo == "Hello" || $bar == "World" ]]

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