DEPARTMENT OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

ANDHRA PRADESH

Name : A V N L Sarojini
Designation : Lecturer
Branch : Computer Engineering
Institute : A.A.N.M. & V.V.R.S.R. Poly.,
Gudlavalleru.
Year/Semester : III Semester
Subject : UNIX & C
Subject Code : CM-302
Topic : Shell Programming &
Filtering Techniques
Duration : 50 Min
Sub Topic : Conditional Statements
Teaching Aids : PPTs.

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 Objective
On completion of this period you would be able
to know
 Introduction to conditional tests
 Using test command
 Using test command for numeric test
 Using test command for string test
 Using test command for file test
 if-then-fi conditional statement
 if-then-else-fi conditional statement

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 What is Conditional Test?

 By default the instructions in the program are executed

sequentially. Most of the times you need the program to
do one thing under some condition and a different thing
in another situation.

 For this it is essential to have control over the order of

execution of commands in a program.

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Various conditional statements in shell

 The UNIX shell offers 4 decision making

instructions, they are:

(a) The if-then-fi statement

(b) The if-then-else-fi statement
(c) The if-then-elif-else-fi statement
(d) The case-esac statement

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 test command

 This is a built in shell command that evaluates the

expression given to it as an argument.

test command returns true if the evaluation of the

expression returns a zero (0).

test command returns false if the evaluation return

non-zero.

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 test command Contd..

 This command can be used directly using the

keyword test (or) indirectly using the square
brackets.

 Example.
$if test ”$answer”=“y”
(or)
$if [“$answer”=“y”]

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 test command Contd..

 More than one condition can be tested by connecting

them together using logical operators such as

-a (Logical AND operator)

-o (Logical OR operator)

! (Logical NOT operator)

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 test command

 With test command, the following types of tests are

carried out.

1. Numeric Tests
2. String Tests
3. File Tests

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 test command - Numeric Tests

 In Numeric tests, two numbers are compared using

relational operators that are listed below
Operator Meaning

-eq Equal to
-ne Not Equal to
-gt Greater than
-ge Greater than or equal to
-lt Less than
-le Less than or equal to
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test command -Numeric Tests (Example)

 $x=5;y=7
 $test $x -eq $y

(or)

 $x=5;y=7
 $[ $x -lt $y ]

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 test command - String Tests

 String tests are conducted for checking.

 Equality
 Non – equality
 Zero or non- zero

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 test command - String Tests

 Following are list of string tests

String Tests Meaning
True if length of the string is zero, that is, the string is
-z string
null.
True if length of the string is nonzero, that is, if string
-n string
exists.
string1 = string 2 True if string1 and string2 are identical.

string1 != string2 True of string1 and string2 are not identical.

string1 True if string1 is not the null string.

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test command -String Tests (Example)

 $ans=y
 [ “$ans”=“y” ]
 [ “$ans”!=“y” ]
 [ -n “$ans” ]
 [ -z “$ans” ]

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 test command - File tests

 File tests are conducted for checking the status of

files and directories.

Test Exit Status

-e file True if file exits
-f file True if file exists and is a regular file
-r file True if file exists and is readable.
-w file True if file exists and is writable.
-x file True if file exists and is executable.
-d file True if file exits and is a directory.

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 test command - File tests

 File tests are conducted for checking the status of

files and directories.

Test Exit Status

-c file True if file exists and is a character special file.
-b file True if file exists and is a block special file.
-h file True if file exists and is a link file.
-s file True if file exists and has a size greater than zero.

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test command - File tests ( Example)

 $[ -f student.lst ]

 $[ -x student.lst ]

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 The if-then-fi statement

 Syntax:
if test_expression
then
true_block
statement 1
- - -
- - -
statement n
fi

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 The if-then-fi statement

 It evaluates the test expression that appears along the

keyword if first.

 If this evaluation result in a true, then the commands

in the true_block are executed.

 Otherwise the true_block between then and fi is

skipped.

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 Example shell script using if-then-fi

echo “Enter a number”

read n
if [ $n -le 0 ]
then
echo “not a positive no”
echo “Enter a positive no”
fi

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 Example2

 Write shell script to find largest among two numbers.

echo –n “ enter two numbers”
read value1 value2
big = $ value1;
if [ $value1<$value2] then
big= $value2;
fi
echo “ the biggest number is $big”

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 The if-then-else-fi statement

 Syntax:
if test_expression
then
true_block
else
false_block
fi

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 The if-then-else-fi statement

 If test_expression results in a true then the true_block will

be executed and then the control goes beyond fi.

 If the evaluation of the test_expression results in a false

then the false_block will be executed and the control goes
beyond fi.

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Example shell script using if-then-else-fi

echo “Enter Student marks in 5 subjects”

read a
read b
read c
read d
read e

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 Example shell script using if-then-else-fi

sum=`expr $a + $b + $c + $d + $e`
avg=`expr $sum / 5`
if [ $avg -ge 60]
then
echo “Student secured First division”
else
echo “Student secured Second Division”
fi

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 Example2
 Write shell script to check whether the number is
even or not.
echo –n “ enter number”
read number
check= `expr $number %2`
if [ $check –eq 0]
then
echo “ the number is even”
else
echo “ the number is odd”
fi
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 Summary

In this class, you have learnt

Conditional tests available in shell programming.

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 Quiz

1.What will be the output of the below program

x=10
if [ $x -ge 2 ]
echo $x
fi

output is 10, since conditon is true

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 Quiz
2.What will be the output of the below program
x=3
y=3.0
if [ $x -eq $y ]
then
echo “ X and Y and equal”
else
echo “X and Y and not equal’
fi
Output
X and Y are equal
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