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

How exactly does “/bin/[” work?What is the purpose of square bracket executableCygwin installation messagecygwin awk output to windows line delimetersFile 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?Installiing XV on windows using cygwinexecute windows program with parameters from cygwinCygwin + /usr/bin/xterm: Xt error: Can't open display: :0

1

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 if anyone has any knowledge about it and whether or not I can remove it.

shell cygwin

share|improve this question

edited 26 mins ago

Joe

asked 2 hours ago

JoeJoe

1092

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.

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Possible duplicate of What is the purpose of square bracket executable
  
  – roaima
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  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
  29 mins ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

1

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 if anyone has any knowledge about it and whether or not I can remove it.

shell cygwin

share|improve this question

edited 26 mins ago

Joe

asked 2 hours ago

JoeJoe

1092

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.

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Possible duplicate of What is the purpose of square bracket executable
  
  – roaima
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  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
  29 mins ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

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 if anyone has any knowledge about it and whether or not I can remove it.

shell cygwin

share|improve this question

edited 26 mins ago

Joe

asked 2 hours ago

JoeJoe

1092

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 26 mins ago

Joe

asked 2 hours ago

JoeJoe

1092

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 26 mins ago

Joe

asked 2 hours ago

JoeJoe

1092

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 2 hours ago

JoeJoe

1092

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 2 hours ago

JoeJoe

1092

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

5

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 test 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 I don't have access to Cygwin to try it, so I don't know if you need to specify the .exe suffix on the command or not)

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.

Related:

• How exactly does "/bin/[" work?

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

answered 2 hours ago

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

139k17259430

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  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
  38 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

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5

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 test 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 I don't have access to Cygwin to try it, so I don't know if you need to specify the .exe suffix on the command or not)

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.

Related:

• How exactly does "/bin/[" work?

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

answered 2 hours ago

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

139k17259430

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  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
  38 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

5

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 test 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 I don't have access to Cygwin to try it, so I don't know if you need to specify the .exe suffix on the command or not)

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.

Related:

• How exactly does "/bin/[" work?

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

answered 2 hours ago

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

139k17259430

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  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
  38 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a 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 test 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 I don't have access to Cygwin to try it, so I don't know if you need to specify the .exe suffix on the command or not)

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.

Related:

• How exactly does "/bin/[" work?

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

answered 2 hours ago

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

139k17259430

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

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

share|improve this answer

edited 2 hours ago

answered 2 hours ago

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

139k17259430

answered 2 hours ago

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

139k17259430

answered 2 hours ago

Kusalananda♦Kusalananda

139k17259430