Syntax Error in simple bash script

Question

Hello im new to bash scripting, i have a simple program which is not working for me. I assume its a syntactical error.

#!/bin/bash
#example1.sh
read Age
if ["$Age" -lt "18"]; then
    echo "You must go to school"
fi

When i input a 1 it says [1: command not found

Oliver Charlesworth · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-11 11:37:21Z

6

You need spaces:

if [ "$Age" -lt "18" ]; then

(Summary: Bash syntax rules are appalling.)

answered Jun 11, 2012 at 11:37

Oliver Charlesworth

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5 Comments

William Pursell Over a year ago

if test "$Age" -lt 18; then is a much more reasonable syntax.

cdarke Over a year ago

if ((Age < 18)); then is an even more reasonable syntax - the spaces are optional.

William Pursell Over a year ago

[ is not part of the syntax of any Bourne shell. (( is part of the syntax for bash, but is not part of the syntax of many other shells.

Dennis Williamson Over a year ago

As William Pursell states, [ is not part of the syntax (nor is [[) they are commands. Commands must be surrounded by whitespace (or be preceded or followed by certain other characters such as ; or &, etc.).

Oliver Charlesworth Over a year ago

@DennisWilliamson: Granted. But the fact that brackets are commands and not just part of the language grammar is what's appalling!

davidstar · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-18 04:55:09Z

0

#!/bin/bash
#example1.bash

read Age
if(($Age < 18)); then
echo "You must go to school"
fi

This code works when it is run in bash. Bash and sh are not completely the same.

answered Jun 18, 2013 at 4:55

davidstar

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