nixCraft: Linux Tips, Hacks, Tutorials, And Ideas In Blog Format http://www.cyberciti.

biz/ ~ RSS Feed ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Google+ ~ Youtube

Copyrighted material

Home > FAQ > Linux

Linux / UNIX: Check If File Is Empty Or Not Using Shell Script

Posted By nixCraft <webmaster@cyberciti.biz> On July 3, 2009 @ 1:09 pm [ 4 Comments ]

How do I check if file is empty or not using bash or ksh shell script under UNIX / Linux / OS X / BSD operating systems? You can use the find command as follows. The -s option to the test builtin check to see if FILE exists and has a size greater than zero. It returns true and false values to indicate that file is empty or has some data. touch /tmp/file1 ls -l /tmp/file1 find /tmp -empty -name file1 Sample outputs: /tmp/file1 Now create another file with some data in it: echo "data" > /tmp/file2 ls -l /tmp/file2 find /tmp -empty -name file2 You should not see any output.
[1]

Shell -s option
However, use can pass -s option as follows in script or shell prompt: touch /tmp/f1 echo "data" >/tmp/f2 ls -l /tmp/f {1,2} [ -s /tmp/f1 ] echo $? Sample outputs: 1 The non zero output indicate that file is empty. [ -s /tmp/f2 ] echo $? Sample outputs: 0 The zero output indicate that file is not empty. So you can write a shell script as follows:

Shell Script To Check If File Is Empty OR Not

#!/bin/bash _file="$1"
nixCraft is GIT UL++++ W+++ C++++ M+ e+++ dPage 1 of 2

[ $# -eq 0 ] && { echo "Usage: $0 filename"; exit 1; } [ ! -f "$_file" ] && { echo "Error: $0 file not found."; exit 2; } if [ -s "$_file" ] then echo "$_file has some data." # do something as file has data else echo "$_file is empty." # do something as file is empty fi Run it as follows: chmod +x script.sh ./script.sh /etc/resolv.conf Sample outputs: /etc/resolv.conf has some data. Run it on an empty file: touch /tmp/test.txt ./script.sh /tmp/test.txt Sample outputs: test.txt is empty.

Important Message from nixCraft: 4000+ howtos and counting! Want to read more Linux / UNIX howtos, tips and tricks? We request you to sign up for the following to ensure that you make the most from our guides / howtos: 1. RSS feed for nixCraft - Get intimated about our new howtos / faqs as soon as it is released. 2. Daily email newsletter or weekly newsletter - Get intimated about our new howtos / faqs as soon as it is released via email.

URL to article: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-unix-script-check-if-file-empty-or-not/ URLs in this post: [1] Image: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/category/linux/

Copyrighted material Copyright 2006-2013 nixCraft. All rights reserved. This print / pdf version is for personal non-commercial use only. Unless otherwise indicated, the documents and graphics stored on this Web server, www.cyberciti.biz, are copyrighted. Links to these documents are permitted and encouraged. No copies may be made without permission. More details - http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/copyright

nixCraft is GIT UL++++ W+++ C++++ M+ e+++ d-

Page 2 of 2