What does -f mean

flycast has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I an learning perl by necessity I have a If statement that has the form: if ( condition1 || -f file path) Condition1 is a simple condition. The -f after the || looks like a file command that is checking for the presence of a file. What does -f do in this situation?

Comment on What does -f mean

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Re: What does -f mean by bart (Canon) on Dec 17, 2006 at 16:44 UTC
See -X and perlop. `-f` is one of the several unary file test operators (compare to the "-" in `-$x`). To explicitely answer you question: `-f` returns true if file path exists and is a plain file (as opposed to a directory, for example).	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: What does -f mean by davido (Cardinal) on Dec 17, 2006 at 16:45 UTC
`-f` tests its right-hand argument to see if it's a file. You can read about it in the Perl documentation in the Functions section under -X. In this case -X is just symbolic of all the different "dash whatever" tests. Here's a link: -X. Basically it returns true if the argument is a name of a real file in your current working directory, and false if not. Dave	[reply] [d/l]
Re: What does -f mean by Cabrion (Friar) on Dec 18, 2006 at 03:00 UTC
type "perldoc -f -X" on the command line. Note that -f here means "show me the docs for built-in function" and -X is the function.	[reply]