Pádraig Brady <P@HIDDEN>
to control <at> debbugs.gnu.org.
Full text available.Pádraig Brady <P@HIDDEN>
to control <at> debbugs.gnu.org.
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[86.44.211.146]) by smtp.googlemail.com with ESMTPSA id 5b1f17b1804b1-4790add608bsm103509055e9.5.2025.11.27.07.15.41 (version=TLS1_3 cipher=TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 bits=128/128); Thu, 27 Nov 2025 07:15:41 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <8921d415-ccf4-46ee-8ef8-347b8a06d9ad@HIDDEN> Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 15:15:39 +0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Beta Subject: Re: bug#79901: Inconsistency between '-n STRING' and 'STRING' in TEST To: Carlos Maiolino <cem@HIDDEN>, 79901 <at> debbugs.gnu.org References: <tzymi3atyshchzzutfn4jx7mevcp3sf4isxsfxuw77ajlclzrj@42qkand5ixgw> Content-Language: en-US From: =?UTF-8?Q?P=C3=A1draig_Brady?= <P@HIDDEN> In-Reply-To: <tzymi3atyshchzzutfn4jx7mevcp3sf4isxsfxuw77ajlclzrj@42qkand5ixgw> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Score: 0.0 (/) X-Debbugs-Envelope-To: 79901 X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org> List-Unsubscribe: <https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/mailman/options/debbugs-submit>, <mailto:debbugs-submit-request <at> debbugs.gnu.org?subject=unsubscribe> List-Archive: <https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/mailman/private/debbugs-submit/> List-Post: <mailto:debbugs-submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org> List-Help: <mailto:debbugs-submit-request <at> debbugs.gnu.org?subject=help> List-Subscribe: <https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/debbugs-submit>, <mailto:debbugs-submit-request <at> debbugs.gnu.org?subject=subscribe> Errors-To: debbugs-submit-bounces <at> debbugs.gnu.org Sender: "Debbugs-submit" <debbugs-submit-bounces <at> debbugs.gnu.org> X-Spam-Score: -1.0 (-) tag 79901 notabug close 79901 stop details below... On 27/11/2025 12:33, Carlos Maiolino via GNU coreutils Bug Reports wrote: > Hello, > > I'm not sure if the behavior below is expected or perhaps a bug? > I'm using GNU coreutils 9.6 > > According to the TEST(1) manpage: > > -n STRING > the length of STRING is nonzero > > STRING equivalent to -n STRING > > > However, the small script below will produce inconsistent results, where > only the first if conditional will evaluate to True: > > #!/bin/bash > > B=" " > > if [ -n $B ]; then > echo "passed 1" > fi > > if [ $B ]; then > echo "passed 2" > fi > > > However it seems to me the variable expansion plays a role here, I'm not > sure if the variable expansion was supposed to differ between "$B" and > "-n $B" too, so perhaps it's a bash thing not a "test" thing? You need to quote the variable expansion to maintain spaces, otherwise `test -n $B` is equivalent to `test '-n'` which is true. You want: [ -n "$B" ] && [ "$B" ] && echo both passed cheers, Padraig.
bug-coreutils@HIDDEN:bug#79901; Package coreutils.
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Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 13:33:06 +0100
From: Carlos Maiolino <cem@HIDDEN>
To: bug-coreutils@HIDDEN
Subject: Inconsistency between '-n STRING' and 'STRING' in TEST
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Hello,
I'm not sure if the behavior below is expected or perhaps a bug?
I'm using GNU coreutils 9.6
According to the TEST(1) manpage:
-n STRING
the length of STRING is nonzero
STRING equivalent to -n STRING
However, the small script below will produce inconsistent results, where
only the first if conditional will evaluate to True:
#!/bin/bash
B=" "
if [ -n $B ]; then
echo "passed 1"
fi
if [ $B ]; then
echo "passed 2"
fi
However it seems to me the variable expansion plays a role here, I'm not
sure if the variable expansion was supposed to differ between "$B" and
"-n $B" too, so perhaps it's a bash thing not a "test" thing?
Cheers,
Carlos
Carlos Maiolino <cem@HIDDEN>:bug-coreutils@HIDDEN.
Full text available.bug-coreutils@HIDDEN:bug#79901; Package coreutils.
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