When/how to use "==" or "-eq" operator in test? - linux

Question

In the following code I want to compare the command line arguments with the parameters but I am not sure what is the current syntax to compare the arguments with parameters..i.e "==" or "-eq".
#!/bin/bash
argLength=$#
#echo "arg = $1"
if [ argLength==0 ]; then
#Running for the very first
#Get the connected device ids and save it in an array
N=0
CONNECTED_DEVICES=$(adb devices | grep -o '\b[A-Za-z0-9]\{8,\}\b'|sed -n '2,$p')
NO_OF_DEVICES=$(echo "$CONNECTED_DEVICES" | wc -l)
for CONNECTED_DEVICE in $CONNECTED_DEVICES ; do
DEVICE_IDS[$N]="$CONNECTED_DEVICE"
echo "DEVICE_IDS[$N]= $CONNECTED_DEVICE"
let "N= $N + 1"
done
for SEND_DEVICE_ID in ${DEVICE_IDS[#]} ; do
callCloneBuildInstall $SEND_DEVICE_ID
done
elif [ "$1" -eq -b ]; then
if [ $5 -eq pass ]; then
DEVICE_ID=$3
./MonkeyTests.sh -d $DEVICE_ID
else
sleep 1h
callCloneBuildInstall $SEND_DEVICE_ID
fi
elif [ "$1" -eq -m ]; then
echo "Check for CloneBuildInstall"
if [ "$5" -eq pass ]; then
DEVICE_ID=$3
callCloneBuildInstall $SEND_DEVICE_ID
else
echo "call CloneBuildInstall"
# Zip log file and save it with deviceId
callCloneBuildInstall $SEND_DEVICE_ID
fi
fi
function callCloneBuildInstall {
./CloneBuildInstall.sh -d $SEND_DEVICE_ID
}

Answer 1

From help test:
[...]
STRING1 = STRING2
True if the strings are equal.
[...]
arg1 OP arg2 Arithmetic tests. OP is one of -eq, -ne,
-lt, -le, -gt, or -ge.
But in any case, each part of the condition is a separate argument to [.
if [ "$arg" -eq 0 ]; then
if [ "$arg" = 0 ]; then

Answer 2

Why not use something like
if [ "$#" -ne 0 ]; then # number of args should not be zero
echo "USAGE: "
fi

Answer 3

When/how to use “==” or “-eq” operator in test?
To put it simply use == when doing lexical comparisons a.k.a string comparisons but use -eq when having numerical comparisons.
Other forms of -eq (equal) are -ne (not equal), -gt (greater than), -ge (greater than or equal), -lt (lesser than), and -le (lesser than or equal).
Some may also suggest preferring (( )).
Examples:
[[ $string == "something else" ]]
[[ $string != "something else" ]] # (negated)
[[ $num -eq 1 ]]
[[ $num -ge 2 ]]
(( $num == 1 ))
(( $num >= 1 ))
And always use [[ ]] over [ ] when you're in Bash since the former skips unnecessary expansions not related to conditional expressions like word splitting and pathname expansion.