Syntax error near unexpected token 'then'

Question

I typed the code the same as The Linux Command Line: A Complete Introduction, page 369 but prompt the error:

line 7 `if[ -e "$FILE" ]; then` 

the code is like:

#!/bin/bash #test file exists  FILE="1" if[ -e "$FILE" ]; then   if[ -f "$FILE" ]; then      echo :"$FILE is a regular file"   fi   if[ -d "$FILE" ]; then      echo "$FILE is a directory"   fi else     echo "$FILE does not exit"    exit 1 fi    exit 

I want to figure out what introduced the error. How can I modify the code? My system is Ubuntu.

Answer 1

There must be a space between if and [, like this:

#!/bin/bash #test file exists  FILE="1" if [ -e "$FILE" ]; then   if [ -f "$FILE" ]; then      echo :"$FILE is a regular file"   fi ... 

These (and their combinations) would all be incorrect too:

if [-e "$FILE" ]; then if [ -e"$FILE" ]; then if [ -e "$FILE"]; then 

These on the other hand are all ok:

if [ -e "$FILE" ];then  # no spaces around ; if     [    -e   "$FILE"    ]   ;   then  # 1 or more spaces are ok 

Btw these are equivalent:

if [ -e "$FILE" ]; then if test -e "$FILE"; then 

These are also equivalent:

if [ -e "$FILE" ]; then echo exists; fi [ -e "$FILE" ] && echo exists test -e "$FILE" && echo exists 

And, the middle part of your script would have been better with an elif like this:

if [ -f "$FILE" ]; then     echo $FILE is a regular file elif [ -d "$FILE" ]; then     echo $FILE is a directory fi 

(I also dropped the quotes in the echo, as in this example they are unnecessary)