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Hi,

I trying to test two condition together (AND) under bash but it's not working...

The goal is ti have True when two variables are either not set or empty (empty string)

I've tried

if [[ -n VARIABLE1 && -n VARIABLE2 ]]; then
    echo "OK"
fi

Here I get the "OK" no matter what .

Thanks.

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[–] BillibusMaximus@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If you want true for empty strings, you want -z not -n

if [[ -z "VARIABLE1"  && -z "VARIABLE2"  ]]; then
    echo "OK"
fi
[–] Farnsworth@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

in [[ there is generally no need for quoting, except the right hand side of an = comparison

[–] DeuxChevaux@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

[ condition1 ] && [ condition2 ] && echo "Good" || echo "Bad"

[–] suff@piefed.social 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Explanation

[ is an alias for the program test, so you can call man test for more info.
&& is bash syntax for conjunction. In A && B, B will only be called if A returned a exit code >0 (error). You can call man bash for more info.
|| is bash syntax for disjunction. In A || B, B will only be called if A returned exit code =0 (success). true and false are programs that just return exit codes 0 respectively 1.

[–] Farnsworth@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Never use a && b || c. It is not the same as if a; then b; else c; fi: when a succeeds but b fails, it will run both b and c.

I would not bother with [ unless you absolutely need compatibility with non-bash shells.

[–] harsh3466@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

To check for an empty string, use -z. -n checks to see if a string is not empty.

[–] Farnsworth@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

in [[, empty strings are falsy, so this also works:

[[ ! $VARIABLE1 && ! $VARIABLE2 ]] && echo "OK"
[–] dion_starfire@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

You're probably wanting [ -z "${VAR1}" -a -z "${VAR2}" ]. Note in bash that there are minor differences in how [ ] and [[ ]] tests are handled. You can pull up a handy cheat sheet of the operands on most distros by running man test, though you'll need to read through the CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS section of man bash if you want to see the minor differences of the single vs double square bracket commands (mostly whether locale applies to string order, as well as whether operands are evaluated in numeric comparisons).

[–] kittenroar@beehaw.org 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You need to reference the value of the variable, ie:

if [[ -n "$VARIABLE1" && -n "$VARIABLE2" ]]; then
    echo "OK"
fi
[–] Rick_C137@programming.dev 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

not working, both variables do not exist and the echo "OK" do not trigger.

[–] kittenroar@beehaw.org 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Then it is working. That is what that code was checking for.

Specifically, -n checks if the variable exists and also does not have a null value.

If you want to reverse it, ie, check that those conditions are not true, put an exclamation mark in front of the whole thing.

[–] Rick_C137@programming.dev 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Thank you all for yours input

What finally did work

if [[ -z VARIABLE1 && -z VARIABLE2 ]]; then
    echo "OK"
fi

If only Linux was using Python syntax that would be so much more intuitive...

[–] sping@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 1 week ago

Linux does use Python syntax... in Python.

In Bash though, it uses Bash syntax.

[–] Farnsworth@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The variables need a dollar sign: $VARIABLE1

help test shows what -n and -z do.

[–] thingsiplay@beehaw.org 2 points 1 week ago

Try this:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

a=""
if [[ -z "${a}" && -z "${b}" ]]; then
    echo "OK"
else
    echo "Not OK"
fi

a="OK"
if [[ -n "${a}" && -z "${b}" ]]; then
    echo "More ${a}"
else
    echo "More Unokay"
fi
[–] fubarx@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Could try:

if [ condition1 ] && [ condition2 ]; then
  echo "OK"
fi