Question

I am learning bash and wish you guys could help me out what’s going on with the following script

#!/bin/bash

#primer if
if [ -f $file1 ]; then
        echo "file1 is a file"
else
        echo "file1 is not a regular file"
fi
#segundo if
if [ -r $file1 ]; then
        echo "file1 has read permission"
else
    echo "file1 doesnot have read permission"
fi
#tercer if
if [ -w $file1 ]; then
        echo "file1 has write permission"
else
    echo "file1 doesnot have write permission"
fi
#cuarto if
if [ -x $file1 ]; then
        echo "file1 has execute permission"
else
    echo "file1 doesnot have execute permission"
fi

It looks to me that it does not matter if I change the file permissions because output is always the same

fmp@eva00:~/Books/2012/ubuntu_unleashed$ ./script.sh 
file1 is a file
file1 has read permission
file1 has write permission
file1 has execute permission
fmp@eva00:~/Books/2012/ubuntu_unleashed$ ll file1
-rw-r--r-- 1 fmp fmp 0 Aug 30 13:21 file1
fmp@eva00:~/Books/2012/ubuntu_unleashed$ chmod 200 file1
fmp@eva00:~/Books/2012/ubuntu_unleashed$ ./script.sh 
file1 is a file
file1 has read permission
file1 has write permission
file1 has execute permission
fmp@eva00:~/Books/2012/ubuntu_unleashed$ ll file1
--w------- 1 fmp fmp 0 Aug 30 13:21 file1
fmp@eva00:~/Books/2012/ubuntu_unleashed$ chmod 000 file1 
fmp@eva00:~/Books/2012/ubuntu_unleashed$ ll file1
---------- 1 fmp fmp 0 Aug 30 13:21 file1
fmp@eva00:~/Books/2012/ubuntu_unleashed$ ./script.sh 
file1 is a file
file1 has read permission
file1 has write permission
file1 has execute permission

file1 can be empty or not and still output is the same, doing the same test

Can anybody explain to me what is wrong?

Thanks

BTW the script here is a modified version of compare3 on page 233 of ubuntu unleashed book 2011 edition (Book site http://ubuntuunleashed.com/)

Answer 1

file1 variable is undefined.

you should add at the beginning of your script file1="file1"