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Is “/bin/[.exe” a legitimate file? [Cygwin, Windows 10] [duplicate]

What is the purpose of square bracket executableHow exactly does “/bin/[” work?Cygwin installation messageFile not found (cygwin on Windows)Cygwin: CD to Windows paths easilyCygwin header file locationCygwin on Windows: Can't open displayCygwin/X DISPLAY number no longer :0?Cannot login or ssh to non-admin Cygwin user this month but could last month and still can for other non-admin userCygwin + /usr/bin/xterm: Xt error: Can't open display: :0Windows/Cygwin/Python: Resolution depends on manual entry or shell script?Cygwin: installing Seismic Unix - error during make install

.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty margin-bottom:0;

2

1

This question already has an answer here:

• 
  What is the purpose of square bracket executable
  
  3 answers
  
  

I can not find anything about this, is it a known file?
I am using a CYGWIN based terminal on windows 10

Here are their locations and the commands I used.

$ find -name [*
./bin/[.exe
./usr/bin/[.exe

$ ls -l -a -r /* | grep [-.*>]
...all other files that match this...
-rwxr-xr-x 1 X 197121 67134 Nov 6 14:22 [.exe
drwxr-xr-x 1 X 197121 0 Apr 2 18:15 ..
drwxr-xr-x 1 X 197121 0 Jan 26 03:20 .

I would like more information on this file and whether or not I can remove it.

shell cygwin

share|improve this question

edited Apr 3 at 1:45

Rui F Ribeiro

41.9k1483142

asked Apr 2 at 22:24

JoeJoe

1195

New contributor

Joe is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

marked as duplicate by roaima, Thomas Dickey, Michael Homer, Rui F Ribeiro, muru Apr 3 at 2:47

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Not necessarily, I didn't know what it was, all the times I've ls'ed into /bin/ No google searches for things close to and the title would provide much to the direct answer here below. Updated the title for relevance
  
  – Joe
  Apr 3 at 0:24
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

2

1

This question already has an answer here:

• 
  What is the purpose of square bracket executable
  
  3 answers
  
  

I can not find anything about this, is it a known file?
I am using a CYGWIN based terminal on windows 10

Here are their locations and the commands I used.

$ find -name [*
./bin/[.exe
./usr/bin/[.exe

$ ls -l -a -r /* | grep [-.*>]
...all other files that match this...
-rwxr-xr-x 1 X 197121 67134 Nov 6 14:22 [.exe
drwxr-xr-x 1 X 197121 0 Apr 2 18:15 ..
drwxr-xr-x 1 X 197121 0 Jan 26 03:20 .

I would like more information on this file and whether or not I can remove it.

shell cygwin

share|improve this question

edited Apr 3 at 1:45

Rui F Ribeiro

41.9k1483142

asked Apr 2 at 22:24

JoeJoe

1195

New contributor

Joe is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

marked as duplicate by roaima, Thomas Dickey, Michael Homer, Rui F Ribeiro, muru Apr 3 at 2:47

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Not necessarily, I didn't know what it was, all the times I've ls'ed into /bin/ No google searches for things close to and the title would provide much to the direct answer here below. Updated the title for relevance
  
  – Joe
  Apr 3 at 0:24
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

This question already has an answer here:

• 
  What is the purpose of square bracket executable
  
  3 answers
  
  

I can not find anything about this, is it a known file?
I am using a CYGWIN based terminal on windows 10

Here are their locations and the commands I used.

$ find -name [*
./bin/[.exe
./usr/bin/[.exe

$ ls -l -a -r /* | grep [-.*>]
...all other files that match this...
-rwxr-xr-x 1 X 197121 67134 Nov 6 14:22 [.exe
drwxr-xr-x 1 X 197121 0 Apr 2 18:15 ..
drwxr-xr-x 1 X 197121 0 Jan 26 03:20 .

I would like more information on this file and whether or not I can remove it.

shell cygwin

share|improve this question

edited Apr 3 at 1:45

Rui F Ribeiro

41.9k1483142

asked Apr 2 at 22:24

JoeJoe

1195

New contributor

Joe is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

$ find -name [*
./bin/[.exe
./usr/bin/[.exe

$ ls -l -a -r /* | grep [-.*>]
...all other files that match this...
-rwxr-xr-x 1 X 197121 67134 Nov 6 14:22 [.exe
drwxr-xr-x 1 X 197121 0 Apr 2 18:15 ..
drwxr-xr-x 1 X 197121 0 Jan 26 03:20 .

share|improve this question

edited Apr 3 at 1:45

Rui F Ribeiro

41.9k1483142

asked Apr 2 at 22:24

JoeJoe

1195

New contributor

Joe is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited Apr 3 at 1:45

Rui F Ribeiro

41.9k1483142

asked Apr 2 at 22:24

JoeJoe

1195

New contributor

Joe is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

edited Apr 3 at 1:45

Rui F Ribeiro

41.9k1483142

edited Apr 3 at 1:45

Rui F Ribeiro

41.9k1483142

asked Apr 2 at 22:24

JoeJoe

1195

New contributor

Joe is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked Apr 2 at 22:24

JoeJoe

1195

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

8

You should not remove that file. In general, don't remove random files that you have not created yourself.

It's the executable file for the [ utility. This utility is exactly the same as the test utility but requires that the last operand is ].

See man [ and man test.

Example of use:

[ -n "hello" ] && echo '"hello" is a non-empty string'

You would also be able to use

/bin/[.exe -n "hello" ] && echo 'That works too'

(though you don't need to specify the .exe suffix on the command line)

Note that /bin/[.exe is the executable file for the external [ utility. This utility is very often also available as a built-in utility in your shell. If your shell is bash, then man bash (and help [) would document it.

The external [ in /bin or /usr/bin is used by shells that don't have this utility as a built-in, or when executing a test from something that is not a shell (e.g. with -exec through find).

Related:

• How exactly does "/bin/[" work?

share|improve this answer

edited Apr 3 at 9:47

answered Apr 2 at 22:30

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

140k17261435

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This is ironically enough, hilarious. I did not know that was a legitimate executable. I thought it as a potential security risk through a regex related attack. Thank you very much for this information, it was thoroughly explained well,... formerly not, (now should be for others), provided through google/forum indexing.
  
  – Joe
  Apr 3 at 0:14
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Searching for punctuation is problematic...
  
  – stolenmoment
  Apr 3 at 1:51
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Kusalanada, Cygwin is a pretty good reimplementation of the Linux/UNIX shell environment for Windows. Shell, GNU tools, even an X Windows display server. (Far better than WSL, in my opinion.) You don't specify the .exe suffix when using a Cygwin tool. So you would ls -l rather than ls.exe -l (although you can do the second if you insist).
  
  – roaima
  Apr 3 at 8:05
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @roaima Thanks. I last used Cygwin in early 2000 so my memory was a bit foggy.
  
  – Kusalananda♦
  Apr 3 at 8:14
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  /bin/[ is typically called when invoked from non-Bourne-like shells, like csh -c '"[" a -nt b "]"' or in things like find ... -exec [ -f ] ; ...
  
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  Apr 3 at 8:28
  
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

8

You should not remove that file. In general, don't remove random files that you have not created yourself.

It's the executable file for the [ utility. This utility is exactly the same as the test utility but requires that the last operand is ].

See man [ and man test.

Example of use:

[ -n "hello" ] && echo '"hello" is a non-empty string'

You would also be able to use

/bin/[.exe -n "hello" ] && echo 'That works too'

(though you don't need to specify the .exe suffix on the command line)

Note that /bin/[.exe is the executable file for the external [ utility. This utility is very often also available as a built-in utility in your shell. If your shell is bash, then man bash (and help [) would document it.

The external [ in /bin or /usr/bin is used by shells that don't have this utility as a built-in, or when executing a test from something that is not a shell (e.g. with -exec through find).

Related:

• How exactly does "/bin/[" work?

share|improve this answer

edited Apr 3 at 9:47

answered Apr 2 at 22:30

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

140k17261435

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This is ironically enough, hilarious. I did not know that was a legitimate executable. I thought it as a potential security risk through a regex related attack. Thank you very much for this information, it was thoroughly explained well,... formerly not, (now should be for others), provided through google/forum indexing.
  
  – Joe
  Apr 3 at 0:14
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Searching for punctuation is problematic...
  
  – stolenmoment
  Apr 3 at 1:51
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Kusalanada, Cygwin is a pretty good reimplementation of the Linux/UNIX shell environment for Windows. Shell, GNU tools, even an X Windows display server. (Far better than WSL, in my opinion.) You don't specify the .exe suffix when using a Cygwin tool. So you would ls -l rather than ls.exe -l (although you can do the second if you insist).
  
  – roaima
  Apr 3 at 8:05
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @roaima Thanks. I last used Cygwin in early 2000 so my memory was a bit foggy.
  
  – Kusalananda♦
  Apr 3 at 8:14
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  /bin/[ is typically called when invoked from non-Bourne-like shells, like csh -c '"[" a -nt b "]"' or in things like find ... -exec [ -f ] ; ...
  
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  Apr 3 at 8:28
  
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

8

You should not remove that file. In general, don't remove random files that you have not created yourself.

It's the executable file for the [ utility. This utility is exactly the same as the test utility but requires that the last operand is ].

See man [ and man test.

Example of use:

[ -n "hello" ] && echo '"hello" is a non-empty string'

You would also be able to use

/bin/[.exe -n "hello" ] && echo 'That works too'

(though you don't need to specify the .exe suffix on the command line)

Note that /bin/[.exe is the executable file for the external [ utility. This utility is very often also available as a built-in utility in your shell. If your shell is bash, then man bash (and help [) would document it.

The external [ in /bin or /usr/bin is used by shells that don't have this utility as a built-in, or when executing a test from something that is not a shell (e.g. with -exec through find).

Related:

• How exactly does "/bin/[" work?

share|improve this answer

edited Apr 3 at 9:47

answered Apr 2 at 22:30

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

140k17261435

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  This is ironically enough, hilarious. I did not know that was a legitimate executable. I thought it as a potential security risk through a regex related attack. Thank you very much for this information, it was thoroughly explained well,... formerly not, (now should be for others), provided through google/forum indexing.
  
  – Joe
  Apr 3 at 0:14
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Searching for punctuation is problematic...
  
  – stolenmoment
  Apr 3 at 1:51
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Kusalanada, Cygwin is a pretty good reimplementation of the Linux/UNIX shell environment for Windows. Shell, GNU tools, even an X Windows display server. (Far better than WSL, in my opinion.) You don't specify the .exe suffix when using a Cygwin tool. So you would ls -l rather than ls.exe -l (although you can do the second if you insist).
  
  – roaima
  Apr 3 at 8:05
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @roaima Thanks. I last used Cygwin in early 2000 so my memory was a bit foggy.
  
  – Kusalananda♦
  Apr 3 at 8:14
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  /bin/[ is typically called when invoked from non-Bourne-like shells, like csh -c '"[" a -nt b "]"' or in things like find ... -exec [ -f ] ; ...
  
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  Apr 3 at 8:28
  
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

You should not remove that file. In general, don't remove random files that you have not created yourself.

It's the executable file for the [ utility. This utility is exactly the same as the test utility but requires that the last operand is ].

See man [ and man test.

Example of use:

[ -n "hello" ] && echo '"hello" is a non-empty string'

You would also be able to use

/bin/[.exe -n "hello" ] && echo 'That works too'

(though you don't need to specify the .exe suffix on the command line)

Note that /bin/[.exe is the executable file for the external [ utility. This utility is very often also available as a built-in utility in your shell. If your shell is bash, then man bash (and help [) would document it.

The external [ in /bin or /usr/bin is used by shells that don't have this utility as a built-in, or when executing a test from something that is not a shell (e.g. with -exec through find).

Related:

• How exactly does "/bin/[" work?

share|improve this answer

edited Apr 3 at 9:47

answered Apr 2 at 22:30

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

140k17261435

[ -n "hello" ] && echo '"hello" is a non-empty string'

/bin/[.exe -n "hello" ] && echo 'That works too'

share|improve this answer

edited Apr 3 at 9:47

answered Apr 2 at 22:30

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

140k17261435

answered Apr 2 at 22:30

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

140k17261435

answered Apr 2 at 22:30

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

140k17261435