Check if file exists and continue else exit in Bash

Question

I have a script that is one script in a chain of others that sends an email.

At the start of the script I want to check if a file exists and continue only if it exists, otherwise just quit.

Here is the start of my script:

if [ ! -f /scripts/alert ]; then     echo "File not found!" && exit 0 else         continue fi 

However I keep getting a message saying:

line 10: continue: only meaningful in a `for', `while', or `until' loop 

Any pointers?

Answer 1

Change it to this:

{ if [ ! -f /scripts/alert ]; then     echo "File not found!"     exit 0 fi } 

A conditional isn't a loop, and there's no place you need to jump to. Execution simply continues after the conditional anyway.

(I also removed the needless &&. Not that it should happen, but just in case the echo fails there's no reason not to exit.)