ELSE(1)

🌸 ELSE(1) 🌸

ok bestie, so this is else from fish-shell — yes, that fish-shell 💅 — and honestly? she's the supporting character that makes the whole if situation work. let's get into it 🫶

---

✨ NAME ✨

else — run a command when a condition is not met 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

if CONDITION; COMMANDS_TRUE ...; [else; COMMANDS_FALSE ...;] end

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so here's the tea ☕ — if will execute the command CONDITION. and if that condition's exit status is 0? slay, the commands COMMANDS_TRUE will execute. main character behavior tbh 👑

but if the exit status is not 0 and else is given, then COMMANDS_FALSE gets executed instead. it's giving "you get a turn too" energy, no cap 💖

lowkey the whole point: else is the fallback. condition flopped? else catches you. 🧚

✨ EXAMPLE ✨

the following code tests whether a file foo.txt exists as a regular file:

if test -f foo.txt
    echo foo.txt exists
else
    echo foo.txt does not exist
end

like literally, that's it. test -f checks it's a regular file, and else handles the "nope, not there" timeline 😭🦋

✨ Copyright ✨

fish-shell developers 🐟💜

---

k bye bestie, go write some conditionals that actually work ✨ version 4.9, dated Sep 08, 2026, brought to you by the fish-shell developers — mwah 🎀💖🌷