conditional statement

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Hi
Does Unix have a conditional statement like Java as follows:
Condition ? Statement1 : Statement2

Thanks

2

UNIX can run C, C++, Fortran, Java, Scripts, Perl, Python, Pascal, COBAL etc, so yes it can.

3

Sorry I meant shell script.

Basically, I want to do:
[ `echo "abcd" | cut -c1` = "a" ] && echo "a" ? echo "b"

Normally, it is a good idea or not to put a command in a test operation.
For instance, [ `echo "abcd" | cut -c1` = "a" ]

If not what else I can do.

Thank you

4

if ... then ... fi

case ... in ..... esac

all that a ? b : c does is if a then result is b else it's c.

5

I know about if or case statement. I am just wondering that i can make it short in one sentence like

[ `echo "abcd" | cut -c1` = "a" ] && echo "a" : echo "b"

By the way thanks so much
I am now assuming that there is not any.

6

If it's any consolation, "x ? y : z" almost didn't get into the Java language.

Basically it's not needed.

It's main advantage in C is for complex macro expansion such as va_arg etc.

7

You can fall into a trap chasing after "x ? y : z". See this post from cfajohnson: link

8

[ `echo "abcd" | cut -c1` = "a" ] && echo "a" || echo "b"

9 
[ "black" == "white" ] && echo yes || echo no