meaning of -a operator in 'if' statement

[u856100]

all,

Could someone confirm what the -a coperator is used for in UNIX scripting apart from 'logical AND'?

I am reading a script where I have a test for file existance, i.e. :

if [[ ! -a ./myfile ]]

I am curious as to why -a is used and not -f, as I thought -a was purely JUST logical AND and not a file existance test operator?

any help much appreciated!

thanks!
John

[Leif Halvarsson_2 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

In ksh -a is the same as -e, -a is obsolete and perhaps for backward compatiblity.

[Pete Randall]

As Leif said - same as -e (exists).

Pete