Shell script syntax error

Question

I am just starting to learn UNIX and i could not figure the problem here can you please point out the error

age=30 if [[ $age -lt 18 ]] then echo "not eligible" elif [[ $age -gt 18 && $age -lt 60 ]] echo "eligible" else echo "stay home" fi exit 

Answer 1

There are a couple of issues with your script, but the most pressing one is the lack of then after the second test.

You also have an unnecessary test for $age -gt 18, which additionally introduces a logical error. You already know that $age is less than 18 at that point, and you accidentally leave out the case of $age being precisely 18. It would be better to remove the $age -gt 18 test altogether.

The script will not need the explicit call to exit at the end but should have a #!-line at the top pointing to the appropriate shell interpreter (probably bash).

You may find https://www.shellcheck.net/ a helpful site for finding the most basic errors in scripts.

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#!/bin/bash age=30 if [[ $age -lt 18 ]]; then echo 'not eligible' elif [[ $age -lt 60 ]]; then echo 'eligible' else echo 'stay home' fi