[Chapter 45] 45.28 Quick Reference: expr
Author: Jerry Peek, Tim O'Reilly & Mike Loukides
Date: 1998-08-04T21:55:00Z

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| Chapter 45 Shell Programming for the Initiated |

## 45.28 Quick Reference: expr

expr | expr is a very handy tool in shell programming, since it provides the ability to evaluate a wide range of arithmetic, logical, and relational expressions. It evaluates its arguments as expressions and prints the result. expr is a standard UNIX utility; the GNU version is on the CD-ROM.

Here's the syntax. The [brackets] mean "optional"; don't type the brackets:

> `expr` `arg1 operator arg2` `[` `operator arg3` `... ]`

Arguments and operators must be separated by spaces. In many cases, an argument is an integer, typed literally or represented by a shell variable. There are three types of operators: arithmetic, relational, and logical.

Exit status (44.7) values for expr are 0 if the expression evaluates non-zero and non-null, 1 if the expression evaluates to 0 or null, or 2 if the expression is invalid.

Arithmetic operators

  Use these to produce mathematical expressions whose results are printed.

  `+`

    Add `arg2` to `arg1`.

  `-`

    Subtract `arg2` from `arg1`.

  `*`

    Multiply the arguments.

  `/`

    Divide `arg1` by `arg2`.

  `%`

    Take the remainder when `arg1` is divided by `arg2`.

  Addition and subtraction are evaluated last, unless they are grouped inside parentheses. The symbols `*`, `(`, and `)` have meaning to the shell, so they must be escaped (preceded by a backslash or enclosed in quotes).

Relational operators

  Use these to compare two arguments. Arguments can also be words, in which case comparisons assume a`<`z and A`<`Z. If the comparison statement is true, expr writes 1 to standard output (13.1); if false, it writes 0. The symbols `>` and `<` must be escaped.

  `=`

    Are the arguments equal?

  `!=`

    Are the arguments different?

  `>`

    Is `arg1` greater than `arg2`?

  `>=`

    Is `arg1` greater than or equal to `arg2`?

  `<`

    Is `arg1` less than `arg2`?

  `<=`

    Is `arg1` less than or equal to `arg2`?

Logical operators

  Use these to compare two arguments. Depending on the values, the result written to standard output can be `arg1` (or some portion of it), `arg2`, or 0. The symbols `|` and `&` must be escaped.

  `|`

    Logical OR; if `arg1` has a non-zero (and non-null) value, the output is `arg1`; otherwise, the output is `arg2`.

  `&`

    Logical AND; if both `arg1` and `arg2` have a non-zero (and non-null) value, the output is `arg1`; otherwise, the output is 0.

  `:`

    Sort of like grep (27.1); `arg2` is a pattern to search for in `arg1`. `arg2` must be a regular expression in this case. If the `arg2` pattern is enclosed in `\( \)`, the output is the portion of `arg1` that matches; otherwise, the output is simply the number of characters that match. A pattern match always applies to the beginning of the argument (the `^` symbol is assumed by default).

### 45.28.1 Examples

Division happens first; output is 10:

>     $ expr 5 + 10 / 2

Addition happens first; output is 7 (truncated from 7.5):

>     $ expr \( 5 + 10 \) / 2

Add 1 to variable i; this is how variables are incremented in Bourne shell scripts:

>     i=`expr "$i" + 1`

Output 1 (true) if variable a is the string "hello":

>     $ expr "$a" = hello

Output 1 (true) if variable b plus 5 equals 10 or more:

>     $ expr "$b" + 5 \>= 10

In the examples below, variable p is the string "version.100". This command returns the number of characters in p:

>     $ expr "$p" : '.*'   Output is 11

Match all characters and print them:

>     $ expr "$p" : '\(.*\)'   Output is "version.100"

Output the number of lowercase letters matched:

>     $ expr "$p" : '[a-z]*'   Output is 7

Match a string of lowercase letters:

>     $ expr "$p" : '\([a-z]*\)'   Output is \"version"

Truncate `$x` if it contains five or more characters; if not, just output `$x`. (Logical OR uses the second argument when the first one is 0 or null; i.e., when the match fails.)

>     $ expr "$x" : '\(.....\)'  "$x"

- DG from O'Reilly & Associates' UNIX in a Nutshell (SVR4/Solaris)

45.27 Turn Off echo for "Secret" Answers |  | 45.29 Testing Characters in a String with expr