Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 14:54:31 -0600 From: Duke Normandin <01031149@3web.net> To: Freebsd Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Need help with Bash function Message-ID: <20010528145430.A93259@mandy.rockingd.calgary.ab.ca> In-Reply-To: <15122.25713.306089.220192@guru.mired.org>; from "Mike Meyer" on Mon, May 28, 2001 at 09:45:05AM References: <93022994@toto.iv> <15122.25713.306089.220192@guru.mired.org>
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On Mon, May 28, 2001 at 09:45:05AM -0500, Mike Meyer wrote:
> Duke Normandin <01031149@3web.net> types:
> > I'm trying to debug the following function w/o much success.
> >
> > function ezq() {
> > if [ -a ~/tmp/* ]; then
> > echo -e "there's something here....\n"
> > else
> > echo -e "empty....\n"
> > fi
> > }
> > I keep on getting:
> >
> > '[: binary operator expected'
> >
> > Is it whinning about the '-a' above? Why?
>
> Because -a is a binary operator. It's format is "expresion1 -a expression2",
> though the message you're getting is strange. I get a different one.
I see! "binary" as in 2 expressions required. As opposed to "unary" - one
expression required.
> > All I want to do is to check to see if a directory is empty or not.
> > TIA...
>
> That's a bit trickier; test - aka '[' - doesn't have any primitives
> for looking at directories, or arrays of any kind. So you need to
> generate a list of files in a string - which test can look at - and
> then check to see if the string is empty or not. The following works
> for me:
>
> function ezq() {
> if [ -n "`ls ~/tmp`" ]; then
> echo "there's something here...."
> else
> echo empty...
> fi
> }
>
> <mike
Thanks, Mike! Works like a bloody charm. I received another reply with a
similar solution, so these are being committed to my "shell scripting"
binder.
--
-duke
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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