5.3Control Flow

Conditionals

# If/else
if [ "$STATUS" -eq 200 ]; then
  echo "PASS: Service is healthy"
elif [ "$STATUS" -eq 503 ]; then
  echo "WARNING: Service unavailable"
else
  echo "FAIL: Unexpected status $STATUS"
fi

# String comparison
if [ "$ENVIRONMENT" = "production" ]; then
  echo "Running production smoke tests"
fi

# File checks
if [ -f "test-config.json" ]; then
  echo "Config file exists"
fi

if [ -d "test-results" ]; then
  echo "Results directory exists"
fi

# Logical operators
if [ "$STATUS" -eq 200 ] && [ "$RESPONSE_TIME" -lt 5 ]; then
  echo "Fast and healthy"
fi

Common Test Operators

Operator	Meaning	Example
-eq	Equal (numeric)	[ "$a" -eq 200 ]
-ne	Not equal (numeric)	[ "$a" -ne 0 ]
-lt	Less than	[ "$a" -lt 100 ]
-gt	Greater than	[ "$a" -gt 0 ]
=	Equal (string)	[ "$a" = "hello" ]
!=	Not equal (string)	[ "$a" != "" ]
-f	File exists	[ -f "config.json" ]
-d	Directory exists	[ -d "results/" ]
-z	String is empty	[ -z "$VAR" ]
-n	String is not empty	[ -n "$VAR" ]

Loops

# For loop with a list
for browser in chromium firefox webkit; do
  echo "Running tests in $browser"
  npx playwright test --project="$browser"
done

# For loop with a range
for i in $(seq 1 5); do
  echo "Test run $i of 5"
done

# While loop
ATTEMPTS=0
MAX_ATTEMPTS=10
while [ "$ATTEMPTS" -lt "$MAX_ATTEMPTS" ]; do
  STATUS=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "$BASE_URL/health")
  if [ "$STATUS" -eq 200 ]; then
    echo "Service is up after $ATTEMPTS attempts"
    break
  fi
  ATTEMPTS=$((ATTEMPTS + 1))
  sleep 5
done