A single bracket ([) usually actually calls a program named [; man test or man [ for more info. Example: $ VARIABLE=abcdef $ if [ $VARIABLE == abcdef ] ; then echo yes ; else echo no ; fi yes The double bracket ([[) does the same thing (basically) as a single bracket, but is a bash builtin. $ VARIABLE=abcdef $ if [[ $VARIABLE == 123456 ]] ; then echo yes ; else echo no ; fi no Parentheses (()) are used to create a subshell. For example: $ pwd /home/user $ (cd /tmp; pwd) /tmp $ pwd /home/user As you can see, the subshell allowed you to perform operations without affecting the environment of the current shell. (a) Braces ({}) are used to unambiguously identify variables. Example: $ VARIABLE=abcdef $ echo Variable: $VARIABLE Variable: abcdef $ echo Variable: $VARIABLE123456 Variable: $ echo Variable: ${VARIABLE}123456 Variable: abcdef123456 (b) Braces are also used to execute a sequence of commands in the current shell context, e.g. $ { date; top -b -n1 | head ; } >logfile # 'date' and 'top' output are concatenated, # could be useful sometimes to hunt for a top loader ) $ { date; make 2>&1; date; } | tee logfile # now we can calculate the duration of a build from the logfile

尽管()有一个微妙的语法差异(参见bash参考);本质上是一个分号;在最后一个命令之后的大括号内是必须的，大括号{，}必须用空格包围。

test，[和[]之间的区别在BashFAQ中有详细的解释。 (注:链接中有很多例子供比较)

To cut a long story short: test implements the old, portable syntax of the command. In almost all shells (the oldest Bourne shells are the exception), [ is a synonym for test (but requires a final argument of ]). Although all modern shells have built-in implementations of [, there usually still is an external executable of that name, e.g. /bin/[. [[ is a new, improved version of it, and it is a keyword, not a program. This has beneficial effects on the ease of use, as shown below. [[ is understood by KornShell and BASH (e.g. 2.03), but not by the older POSIX or BourneShell.

结论是:

什么时候使用新的测试命令[[，什么时候使用旧的测试命令[? 如果要考虑到POSIX或BourneShell的可移植性/一致性，则应该考虑旧语法 被使用。如果脚本需要BASH、Zsh或KornShell， 新的语法通常更加灵活。

Truncate the contents of a variable

$ var="abcde"; echo ${var%d*}
abc

Make substitutions similar to sed

$ var="abcde"; echo ${var/de/12}
abc12

Use a default value

$ default="hello"; unset var; echo ${var:-$default}
hello

我只是想从TLDP中添加这些:

~:$ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash

~:$ echo ${#SHELL}
9

~:$ ARRAY=(one two three)

~:$ echo ${#ARRAY}
3

~:$ echo ${TEST:-test}
test

~:$ echo $TEST


~:$ export TEST=a_string

~:$ echo ${TEST:-test}
a_string

~:$ echo ${TEST2:-$TEST}
a_string

~:$ echo $TEST2


~:$ echo ${TEST2:=$TEST}
a_string

~:$ echo $TEST2
a_string

~:$ export STRING="thisisaverylongname"

~:$ echo ${STRING:4}
isaverylongname

~:$ echo ${STRING:6:5}
avery

~:$ echo ${ARRAY[*]}
one two one three one four

~:$ echo ${ARRAY[*]#one}
two three four

~:$ echo ${ARRAY[*]#t}
one wo one hree one four

~:$ echo ${ARRAY[*]#t*}
one wo one hree one four

~:$ echo ${ARRAY[*]##t*}
one one one four

~:$ echo $STRING
thisisaverylongname

~:$ echo ${STRING%name}
thisisaverylong

~:$ echo ${STRING/name/string}
thisisaverylongstring

函数定义中的括号

括号()在函数定义中被使用:

function_name () { command1 ; command2 ; }

这就是在命令形参中也必须转义括号的原因:

$ echo (
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'

$ echo \(
(

$ echo () { command echo The command echo was redefined. ; }
$ echo anything
The command echo was redefined.

关于如何使用括号对表达式进行分组和展开的其他信息: (它列在链接语法括号中)

这里有一些要点:

在子shell中分组命令:() (列表)

将当前shell中的命令分组:{} {列表;｝

Test -返回一个表达式的二进制结果:[[]] [表达式]]

算术扩张 算术展开的格式是: $(表达式)

简单算术求值的格式是: (表达)

组合多个表达式 (表达式) (expr1 && expr2))