> Is there a "cleaner" way to test the true/ error exit status other > than using "$?", with bonus points for working in posix sh as well as > Bash, ?
test $? -eq 0 "help test" will tell you more. Another point from your original mail, > $ false > $ test $? && echo ok || echo error $? The second $? in that line is different from the first; it's the exit status of "test". That can be demonstrated, with a corrected test command, by $ grep stuff /no/such/file grep: /no/such/file: No such file or directory $ echo $? 2 $ grep stuff /no/such/file grep: /no/such/file: No such file or directory $ test $? -eq 0 && echo ok || echo error $? error 1 As was mentioned in an earlier reply, you can get round that by saving the exit status in a variable, e.g. $ grep stuff /no/such/file grep: /no/such/file: No such file or directory $ RET=$? $ test $RET -eq 0 && echo ok || echo error $RET error 2 -- Cheers, Clive
