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Joachim Ansorg edited this page May 3, 2025 · 2 revisions

Use && for logical AND. Single & will background and return true.

Problematic code:

if [ "$1" = "install" ] & [ "$USER" != "root" ]
then
  echo "Must be root to install"
fi

Correct code:

if [ "$1" = "install" ] && [ "$USER" != "root" ]
then
  echo "Must be root to install"
fi

Rationale:

ShellCheck found a test command followed by a &. This runs the test in the background, effectively ignoring it. To specify "logical AND" between two commands, use &&.

Exceptions:

None

Related resources:

  • Help by adding links to BashFAQ, StackOverflow, man pages, POSIX, etc!
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