> [ a = b ] && echo "Oops!" || echo "Expected; phew!" Not to be taken as a general rule though. I might be mistaken but I think that bash would parse the line

> [ a = b ] && echo "Oops!" || echo "Expected; phew!" Not to be taken as a general rule though. I might be mistaken but I think that bash would parse the line as: ([ a = b ] && echo "Oops!") || echo "Expected; phew!" so if the command sequence after `&&` fails, then the code sequence after `||` is executed anyway: illo@joe:~ $ [ "a" == "a" ] && >/dev/full echo "strings match" || echo "strings don't match" -bash: echo: write error: No space left on device strings don't match illo@joe:~ $ This is different from the semantics of the `if` block: illo@joe:~ $ if [ "a" == "a" ]; then >/dev/full echo "strings match"; else echo "strings don't match"; fi -bash: echo: write error: No space left on device illo@joe:~ $