Expressions are used in @, if, and while statements to perform arithmetic, string comparisons, file testing, and so on. exit and set also specify expressions, as can the tcsh built-in command filetest. Expressions are formed by combining variables and constants with operators that resemble those in the C programming language. Operator precedence is the same as in C and can be remembered as follows:
* / %
+ -
Group all other expressions inside parentheses. Parentheses are required if the expression contains <, >, &, or |.
Operators can be one of the following types.
Description |
|
---|---|
= |
Assign value. |
+= -= |
Reassign after addition/subtraction. |
*= /= %= |
Reassign after multiplication/division/remainder. |
&= ^= |= |
Reassign after bitwise AND/XOR/OR. |
++ |
Increment. |
-- |
Decrement. |
Description |
|
---|---|
* / % |
Multiplication; integer division; modulus (remainder). |
+ - |
Addition; subtraction. |
Description |
|
---|---|
~ |
Binary inversion (one's complement). |
! |
Logical negation. |
<< >> |
Bitwise left shift; bitwise right shift. |
& |
Bitwise AND. |
^ |
Bitwise exclusive OR. |
| |
Bitwise OR. |
&& |
Logical AND. |
|| |
Logical OR. |
{ command } |
Return 1 if command is successful, 0 otherwise. Note that this is the opposite of command's normal return code. The $status variable may be more practical. |
Description |
|
---|---|
= = != |
Equality; inequality. |
<= >= |
Less than or equal to; greater than or equal to. |
< > |
Less than; greater than. |
Command substitution and filename expansion are performed on file before the test is performed. Operators can be combined (e.g., -ef). The following is a list of the valid file inquiry operators:
Operator |
Description |
---|---|
-b file |
The file is a block special file. |
-c file |
The file is a character special file. |
-d file |
The file is a directory. |
-e file |
The file exists. |
-f file |
The file is a plain file. |
-g file |
The file's set-group-ID bit is set. |
-k file |
The file's sticky bit is set. |
-l file |
The file is a symbolic link. |
-L file |
Apply any remaining operators to symbolic link, not the file it points to. |
-o file |
The user owns the file. |
-p file |
The file is a named pipe (FIFO). |
-r file |
The user has read permission. |
-s file |
The file has nonzero size. |
-S file |
The file is a socket special file. |
-t file |
file is a digit and is an open file descriptor for a terminal device. |
-u file |
The file's set-user-ID bit is set. |
-w file |
The user has write permission. |
-x file |
The user has execute permission. |
-X file |
The file is executable and is in the path, or is a shell built-in. |
-z file |
The file has 0 size. |
! |
Reverse the sense of any preceding inquiry. |
Finally, tcsh provides the following operators, which return other kinds of information:
Operator |
Description |
---|---|
-A[:] file |
Last time file was accessed, as the number of seconds since the epoch. With a colon (:), the result is in timestamp format. |
-C[:] file |
Last time inode was modified. With a colon (:), the result is in timestamp format. |
-D file |
Device number. |
-F file |
Composite file identifier, in the form device:inode. |
-G[:] file |
Numeric group ID for the file. With a colon (:), the result is the group name if known, otherwise the numeric group ID. |
-I file |
Inode number. |
-L file |
The name of the file pointed to by symbolic link file. |
-M[:] file |
Last time file was modified. With a colon (:), the result is in timestamp format. |
-N file |
Number of hard links. |
-P[:] file |
Permissions in octal, without leading 0. With a colon (:), the result includes a leading 0. |
-Pmode[:] file |
Equivalent to -P file ANDed to mode. With a colon (:), the result includes a leading 0. |
-U[:] file |
Numeric user ID of the file's owner. With a colon (:), the result is the username if known, otherwise the numeric user ID. |
-Z file |
The file's size, in bytes. |
The following examples show @ commands and assume n = 4:
Expression |
Value of $x |
---|---|
@ x = ($n > 10 || $n < 5) |
1 |
@ x = ($n >= 0 && $n < 3) |
0 |
@ x = ($n << 2) |
16 |
@ x = ($n >> 2) |
1 |
@ x = $n % 2 |
0 |
@ x = $n % 3 |
1 |
The following examples show the first line of if or while statements:
Expression |
Meaning |
---|---|
while ($#argv != 0) |
While there are arguments . . . |
if ($today[1] = = "Fri") |
If the first word is "Fri". . . |
if (-f $argv[1]) |
If the first argument is a plain file. . . |
if (! -d $tmpdir) |
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