HELP! Checking IF file exists in Linux - Syntax issue

thePITman · 11-18-2008, 10:25 AM

Urgent!

I am having an issue with testing if a file exists in Linux (syntax issue). We are switching from UNIX to Linux at work, so I am going through programs, debugging them and making sure they work on Linux. I am having the following problem:

I run a .prog file that, in turn, runs a PL/SQL program that creates one or more output files that all begin with the same 7 characters, and have similar to the following format:

411n9n_xxx_xxx_timestamp

Once back in the .prog file, my code is as follows:
(I have already changed single brackets to double bracket because of syntax error)

Code:

if [[ -f ${EXPORTDIR}/411n9n* ]]
then
   xxx
fi

This does not work, and the IF statement is not entered into even when there are files located in the folder that meet the requirements. However, if I change the expression to an exact filename (without the * wildcard) it works fine. Is there some kind of limitation on the wildcard in this situation?

Thank you!

thePITman · 11-18-2008, 11:21 AM

Arrgggh!!! It works now!

The whole problem was the double brackets. However, when it was just single brackets when I first started testing, it gave me an error about "too many" or "not enough arguments" but the error went away when I made it double brackets instead of just one. So the whole time there was nothing wrong with my original code!

What a waste of time. Haha!

11-18-2008, 10:25 AM	#1 (permalink)
thePITman Registered User Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 24 OS: WinXp	HELP! Checking IF file exists in Linux - Syntax issue Urgent! I am having an issue with testing if a file exists in Linux (syntax issue). We are switching from UNIX to Linux at work, so I am going through programs, debugging them and making sure they work on Linux. I am having the following problem: I run a .prog file that, in turn, runs a PL/SQL program that creates one or more output files that all begin with the same 7 characters, and have similar to the following format: 411n9n_xxx_xxx_timestamp Once back in the .prog file, my code is as follows: (I have already changed single brackets to double bracket because of syntax error) Code: if [[ -f ${EXPORTDIR}/411n9n* ]] then xxx fi This does not work, and the IF statement is not entered into even when there are files located in the folder that meet the requirements. However, if I change the expression to an exact filename (without the * wildcard) it works fine. Is there some kind of limitation on the wildcard in this situation? Thank you!

11-18-2008, 11:21 AM	#2 (permalink)
thePITman Registered User Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 24 OS: WinXp	Re: HELP! Checking IF file exists in Linux - Syntax issue Arrgggh!!! It works now! The whole problem was the double brackets. However, when it was just single brackets when I first started testing, it gave me an error about "too many" or "not enough arguments" but the error went away when I made it double brackets instead of just one. So the whole time there was nothing wrong with my original code! What a waste of time. Haha!