Evaluate expression.
expr evaluates expression and writes the result to standard output.
Syntax expr expression Options Operators are listed below in order of increasing precedence. Operators with equal precedence are grouped within { } symbols. expr1 | expr2 Returns the evaluation of expr1 if it is neither an empty string nor zero; otherwise, returns the evaluation of expr2. expr1 & expr2 Returns the evaluation of expr1 if neither expression evaluates to an empty string or zero; otherwise, returns zero. expr1 {=, >, >=, <, <=, !=} expr2 Returns the results of integer comparison if both arguments are integers; otherwise, returns the results of string comparison using the locale-specific collation sequence. The result of each comparison is 1 if the specified relation is true, or 0 if the relation is false. expr1 {+, -} expr2 Returns the results of addition or subtraction of integer-valued arguments. expr1 {*, /, %} expr2 Returns the results of multiplication, integer division, or remainder of integer-valued arguments. expr1 : expr2 The `:' operator matches expr1 against expr2, which must be a regular expression. The regular expression is anchored to the beginning of the string with an implicit `^'. expr expects "basic" regular expressions, see re_format(7) for more informa- tion on regular expressions. If the match succeeds and the pattern contains at least one regu- lar expression subexpression `\(...\)', the string correspond- ing to `\1' is returned; otherwise the matching operator returns the number of characters matched. If the match fails and the pattern contains a regular expression subexpression the null string is returned; otherwise 0. Parentheses are used for grouping in the usual manner.
# A partial match will return the number of characters that match: $ expr ss64 : ss6 3 # The condition in string 2 must entirely match string 1 $ expr ss64 : ss7 0 # Adding numbers $ expr 5 + 2 7 # When multiplying the * has to be escaped $ expr 5 \* 3 15 # Incrementing a variable (arithmetic expansion) $ demo=1 $ demo=`expr $demo + 1` $ echo $demo 2 $ demo=`expr $demo + 1` $ echo $demo 3
Return the filename portion of a pathname
stored in variable a. The // characters act to eliminate ambiguity
with the division operator.
$ expr //$a : '.*/\(.*\)'
Return the number of characters in variable
$demo.
$ demo=ss64
$ expr $demo : '.*'
Exit Status
expr exits with one of the following values:
0 the expression is neither an empty string nor 0.
1 the expression is an empty string or 0.
2 the expression is invalid..
"Silence is the perfect expression of scorn" ~ George Bernard Shaw (Back to Methuselah, 1921)
awk - Find and Replace text within file(s).
eval - Evaluate several commands/arguments.
for - Loop, expand words, and execute commands.
test - Evaluate a conditional expression.