William Kenworthy <[email protected]> [11-10-12 07:40]:
> I have been checking my system for some deep seated problems and in the
> process, ran across the fact that "equery files sys-apps/coreutils-8.7"
> shows a file included called "/usr/bin/[" - thats right, left square
> bracket!
>
> Is that a bug or if real, what would you use it for? It doesnt seem to
> be on the file system ...
>
> moriah ~ # /usr/bin/[
> /usr/bin/[: missing `]'
> moriah ~ #
>
> doesnt show much!
>
> BillK
>
>
Hi Wiiliam,
this is a convenient 'abbreviation' or 'alias' for cobnstructs such this one
if [ foo ]
then
bar
fi
in shell scripting.
Most shells have implemented this as a builtin (and 'test' also)
though.
HTH!
Best regards,
mcc
