Unix script error: [: too many arguments

Question

I have this code that outputs:

1: '[' '[' "" = "" ']'
2: script.sh: line 7: [: too many arguments
3: '[' '[' artifact1,artifact2,artifact3,artifact4,artifact5 = "" ']'
4: '[' '[' 2.14 = "" ']'
5: '[' '[' N = "" ']'
6: script.sh: line 7: [: too many arguments

Here is the part of the code:

set -x
NEW_TAG = "";
TAGS = artifact1,artifact2,artifact3,artifact4,artifact5;
VERSION = 2.14;
FIX = N;

if [ [ "$NEW_TAG" = "" ] || [ "$TAGS" = "" ] || [ "$VERSION" = "" ] || [ "$FIX" = "" ] ];

I have already put double quotes in the variables but still I encounter this error. What could have I done wrong?

Thanks in advance. Cheers!

The [ is actually an alias for the test command. I recommend you read the manual page for test. — Some programmer dude
– Some programmer dude, Commented Oct 25, 2017 at 10:06
Yes, does this mean my syntax is wrong? I just compared $string1 = empty string or NULL. — Juan Dela Cruz
– Juan Dela Cruz, Commented Oct 25, 2017 at 10:11
Your variable assignments are also wrong; no spaces are allowed around the =: NEW_TAG="" (or just NEW_TAG=). Run your code through shellcheck.net to catch the more obvious errors. — chepner
– chepner, Commented Oct 25, 2017 at 12:55

chepner · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-25 12:54:46Z

2

[ is another name for the test command, not a grouping operator like parentheses.

Your if statement is equivalent to

if test [ "$NEW_TAG" = "" || ...

and test doesn't expect any more arguments if the first one is [ (in this case it has no special meaning; it's just a non-enpty string).

The correct way to use multiple tests is

if [ "$NEW_TAG" = "" ] || [ "$TAGS" = "" ] || [ "$VERSION" = "" ] || [ "$FIX" = "" ];

You don't need any grouping, although if you really wanted to, you can use { ... }:

if { [ "$NEW_TAG" = "" ] ||
     [ "$TAGS" = "" ] ||
     [ "$VERSION" = "" ] ||
     [ "$FIX" = "" ]; };

Note the ; used to terminate the command list inside the { ... }.

Also, it is a little shorter (with less room for error) to use the -z operator to check if a string is empty.

if [ -z "$NEW_TAG" ] || [ -z "$TAGS" ] || [ -z "$VERSION" ] || [ -z "$FIX" ]; then

answered Oct 25, 2017 at 12:54

chepner

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1 Comment

Juan Dela Cruz Over a year ago

Wow thank you very much! Actually I'm debugging this script. Thank you thank you!

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