Bash – Check If A File Exists

Bash Example to Check if A File Exists

Q. How do I check if a specified file exists or not?

Use -f switch with the if condition to check if a file exists. Then execute a set of statement if a file exists:

• Check if a file exists:
  
  Shell

  if [ -f "$FILE" ]; then # Script statements if $FILE exists. fi

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  if [ -f "$FILE" ]; then   # Script statements if $FILE exists. fi

• Check if a file doesn’t exist:
  Shell

  if [ ! -f "$FILE" ]; then # script statements if $FILE doesn't exist. fi

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  if [ ! -f "$FILE" ]; then   # script statements if $FILE doesn't exist. fi

Example

A sample shell script to remove a specific file if already exists.

Sometimes you are trying to access a file, which doesn’t exists. In that case, create file if not exists.