I'm trying to find the man page for [[ (double-brackets).
Apparently man test only documents test and [.
Are the conditionals for [[ and [ are exactly the same?
asked Sep 5, 2018 at 21:33
2 Answers
Since [[ is part of the bash grammar and [ is a command built into the shell, both are documented in the bash manual itself.
[[ is documented under SHELL GRAMMAR/Compound Commands and also under CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS (as is [), and [ is further documented together with the test built in command under SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS.
The test manual that you read with man test documents the external test and [ commands, probably available as /usr/bin/test and /usr/bin/[ (or possibly under /bin depending on what Unix you use).
Related:
answered Sep 5, 2018 at 21:43
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1In the manual, easiest would be to use the index. In
info, usei, in HTML, see there. In PS/PDF printout, see at the end of the book. Don't usemanfor a manual of this size, there's a reason why it's called a man page.Stéphane Chazelas– Stéphane Chazelas2018-09-05 22:14:00 +00:00Commented Sep 5, 2018 at 22:14
Also useful is the
helpbuiltin. This will print 22 lines of info about[[:help [[- The
[and[[are significantly different. See What's the difference between [ and [[ in Bash?
info bash '[['