Linux / UNIX: Check If File Is Empty Or Not Using Shell Script

To check if a file is empty or not using a shell script on a Linux or Unix system, you can use the wc command with the -c option to count the number of characters in the file.

The wc command is a utility that is used to count the number of lines, words, and characters in a file. The -c option tells wc to count the number of characters in the file.

To check if a file is empty or not using a shell script, you can use the following syntax:

if [ $(wc -c < /path/to/file) -eq 0 ]
then
    # File is empty
    # Insert commands to be executed if file is empty here
else
    # File is not empty
    # Insert commands to be executed if file is not empty here
fi

Replace /path/to/file with the path to the file you want to check.

The if statement will execute the commands inside the then block if the output of the wc command is 0, indicating that the file is empty. If the output of the wc command is not 0, indicating that the file is not empty, the commands inside the else block will be executed.

You can use this syntax to check if a file is empty or not in a shell script and perform different actions depending on the result.

Keep in mind that the wc command may not accurately count the number of characters in a file if the file contains special characters or non-printable characters. In such cases, you may need to use a different method to check if a file is empty or not.