What Does -Z Mean in Bash? [Duplicate]

Name: What Does -Z Mean in Bash? [Duplicate]
Uploaded: 2026-09-27T17:38:16+00:00
Duration: 20 min 12 s
Description: I'm Looking at the Following Code: If [ -Z $2 ]; Then Echo "Usage: .. . (The 3 Dots Are Irrelevant Usage Details.) Maybe I'm Googling It Wrong, but I Couldn't...

Question

I'm looking at the following code:

if [ -z $2 ]; then
        echo "usage: ...

(The 3 dots are irrelevant usage details.)
Maybe I'm googling it wrong, but I couldn't find an explanation for the -z option.

Accepted Answer

-z string True if the string is null (an empty string)

Answer 2

-z

string is null, that is, has zero length

String=''   # Zero-length ("null") string variable.

if [ -z "$String" ]
then
  echo "\$String is null."
else
  echo "\$String is NOT null."
fi     # $String is null.

Answer 3

test -z returns true if the parameter is empty (see man sh or man test).

Answer 4

The expression -z string is true if the length of string is zero.

What Does -Z Mean in Bash? [Duplicate]

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