An event that occurs in almost every class one takes in school. You sit down and answer a set of questions, and the number you get correct determine your score, which is supposed to show your knowledge of the subject that the test was on. However, this is not always correct, because it's been shown that the format of the test can affect the scores, while it doesn't affect the knowledge.

Different from a quiz because it is of more importance.

Also, what they tell you it is right before setting off the fire alarm so that you don't have the stampede and people getting hurt that a real one would be.

Test is a fishing term for the strength of a fishing line. When you buy line it has a test number. This number is the number of pounds the line can safely hold without danger of snapping. A list of fish and the test that i use:

Trout:4 to 8
Bass:10 to 15 (depending on size)
Blue Fish: 25-35
Striper: 20 - 30

Make sure when you fish you use an appropriate test. Sure anyone can drag in a trout on 12 pound test, but it takes a true angler to get a trout on two pound test. Good luck.

Surely you must know SOMETHING! A call to arms!
A standard *n?x program, often hardcoded into the shell because of its frequent use.

test allows a shell programmer to test various conditions that result in a boolean value.  It is usually used in combination with other shell components, such as if, (allowing parts of a shell script to be executed conditionally) or while (to perform the test on a loop).

test takes various arguments, interprets them as a large boolean expression (see below), and sets its exit status code to 0 if the expression is true or some nonzero value if it is false.

test is aliased by every *nix system to "[", which makes

if [ -f "$dest" ]

equivalent to

if test -f "$dest"

If test is invoked as "[", the last argument must be, of course , "]".



The most basic expressions to test are literal strings.  However, your shell can build complex string variables from shell variables (or command substitution) and test won't know the difference.

There are string comparison operators that take two expressions and compare the strings resulting from them.

expr1 = expr2   equality
expr1 != expr2  inequality
expr1           is the string nonempty?
-z expr1        is the string empty?
-n expr1        is the string nonempty?

There are numeric comparison operators that take two expressions and compare the numbers (integers only) resulting from them.

expr1 -eq expr2   equality
expr1 -ne expr2   inequality
expr1 -gt expr2   greater than
expr1 -lt expr2   less than
expr1 -ge expr2   greater than or equal
expr1 -le expr2   less than or equal

There is a unary negation operator

! expr

and boolean operators:

expr1 -a expr2   and
expr1 -o expr2   or

However, since operator precedence is an unheard-of concept (don't believe the man page)  to test, you will always want to use parentheses (and since parentheses have their own special interpretation within the shell, so you must always quote them):

'(' expr1 ')' -a '(' expr2 ')'

There are unary operators that test what your expressions mean to the file system:

-f expr     Is expr the path to a regular file?
-d expr     Is expr the path to a directory?
-l expr     Is expr the path to a symbolic link (also -h and -L)?
-c expr     Is expr the path to a character special file?
-b expr     Is expr the path to a block special file?
-p expr     Is expr the path to a named pipe?
-t [expr]    Is expr the file descriptor of an open shell file that is also a terminal device?
            (useful only for 0 (stdin), 1 (stdout), and 2 (stderr). The default is 1.

-x expr     Does expr exist in the file system?
-r expr     Is expr readable?
-w expr     Is expr writable?

-u expr     Is expr a file whose "set user ID" bit is set?
-g expr     Is expr a file whose "set group ID" bit is set?
-k expr     Is expr a file whose "sticky bit" is set?
-s expr     Is expr a file whose size is greater than zero?
 

A certain awkwardness accompanies tests. If you're like me, and know everything there ever was to know about absolutely anything, you probably finished all the tests first in school. However, Elementary School teachers got it in their heads that it was a good idea to say, "first done probably does bad! Don't rush it!" You'd start to get up to pass in the test, then you'd think better of it and sit down. After all, you wouldn't want anyone to think that you're a nerd or something, and you probably missed something, because there's no way you did that well. The teacher's words float around in your head.

So you sit.

You sit and stare at the packet in front of you, neatly stapled in the top-left corner, and wait for the other kids to finish. They don't. You leaf through it, pretending to check your work, but you're really thinking about other things. This goes on for a while, and then you notice that other kids are looking around the room with that nervous look on their face, too. They're finished too, but they don't dare hand in the test, lest they provoke the spirits and fail the test entirely because they were the first one done. Fifteen minutes later, someone breaks and passes the test in. You still try not to get up - you don't want to seem too eager. But once that kid's gets back to his seat the time is right. You snap. So does everyone else. That's when the magic happens. A natural phenomenon seen only in a school classroom. Everyone rushes to the front, freed from the constraints of test-done-ness, eager to drop the finished test like a burning piece of coal. The tests are now "in". It's over. You breathe a sigh of relief and laugh at the dumb kid that's not done yet. Later, you try to convince your friends that you were actually the first one done.

But what about those bad tests? We all have those moments - up all night studying (not that I need to study) but none of it sticks. You decide to go through and do what you know, but it's no use. You stare down at your paper. One hundred point test, but all you can do is five. Well, shit. Soon, the test-completion phenomenon occurs and you feel the pressure. You feel naked. Everyone's staring at you. "One minute left."

Shit. Goodbye, GPA.

terpri = T = TeX

test n.

1. Real users bashing on a prototype long enough to get thoroughly acquainted with it, with careful monitoring and followup of the results. 2. Some bored random user trying a couple of the simpler features with a developer looking over his or her shoulder, ready to pounce on mistakes. Judging by the quality of most software, the second definition is far more prevalent. See also demo.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, this entry manually entered by rootbeer277.

Test (?), n. [OE. test test, or cupel, potsherd, F. tet, from L. testum an earthen vessel; akin to testa a piece of burned clay, an earthen pot, a potsherd, perhaps for tersta, and akin to torrere to patch, terra earth (cf. Thirst, and Terrace), but cf. Zend tasta cup. Cf. Test a shell, Testaceous, Tester a covering, a coin, Testy, Tete-a-tete.]

1. Metal.

A cupel or cupelling hearth in which precious metals are melted for trial and refinement.

Our ingots, tests, and many mo. Chaucer.

2.

Examination or trial by the cupel; hence, any critical examination or decisive trial; as, to put a man's assertions to a test.

"Bring me to the test."

Shak.

3.

Means of trial; as, absence is a test of love.

Each test every light her muse will bear. Dryden.

4.

That with which anything is compared for proof of its genuineness; a touchstone; a standard.

Life, force, and beauty must to all impart, At once the source, and end, and test of art. Pope.

5.

Discriminative characteristic; standard of judgment; ground of admission or exclusion.

Our test excludes your tribe from benefit. Dryden.

6.

Judgment; distinction; discrimination.

Who would excel, when few can make a test Betwixt indifferent writing and the best? Dryden.

7. Chem.

A reaction employed to recognize or distinguish any particular substance or constituent of a compound, as the production of some characteristic precipitate; also, the reagent employed to produce such reaction; thus, the ordinary test for sulphuric acid is the production of a white insoluble precipitate of barium sulphate by means of some soluble barium salt.

Test act Eng.Law, an act of the English Parliament prescribing a form of oath and declaration against transubstantiation, which all officers, civil and military, were formerly obliged to take within six months after their admission to office. They were obliged also to receive the sacrament according to the usage of the Church of England. Blackstone. -- Test object Optics, an object which tests the power or quality of a microscope or telescope, by requiring a certain degree of excellence in the instrument to determine its existence or its peculiar texture or markings. -- Test paper. (a) Chem. Paper prepared for use in testing for certain substances by being saturated with a reagent which changes color in some specific way when acted upon by those substances; thus, litmus paper is turned red by acids, and blue by alkalies, turmeric paper is turned brown by alkalies, etc. (b) Law An instrument admitted as a standard or comparison of handwriting in those jurisdictions in which comparison of hands is permitted as a mode of proving handwriting. -- Test tube. Chem. (a) A simple tube of thin glass, closed at one end, for heating solutions and for performing ordinary reactions. (b) A graduated tube.

Syn. -- Criterion; standard; experience; proof; experiment; trial. -- Test, Trial. Trial is the wider term; test is a searching and decisive trial. It is derived from the Latin testa (earthen pot), which term was early applied to the fining pot, or crucible, in which metals are melted for trial and refinement. Hence the peculiar force of the word, as indicating a trial or criterion of the most decisive kind.

I leave him to your gracious acceptance, whose trial shall better publish his commediation. Shak.

Thy virtue, prince, has stood the test of fortune, Like purest gold, that tortured in the furnace, Comes out more bright, and brings forth all its weight. Addison.

 

© Webster 1913.


Test, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tested; p. pr. & vb. n. Testing.]

1. Metal.

To refine, as gold or silver, in a test, or cupel; to subject to cupellation.

2.

To put to the proof; to prove the truth, genuineness, or quality of by experiment, or by some principle or standard; to try; as, to test the soundness of a principle; to test the validity of an argument.

Experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution. Washington.

3. Chem.

To examine or try, as by the use of some reagent; as, to test a solution by litmus paper.

 

© Webster 1913.


Test (?), n. [L. testis. Cf. Testament, Testify.]

A witness.

[Obs.]

Prelates and great lords of England, who were for the more surety tests of that deed. Ld. Berners.

 

© Webster 1913.


Test, v. i. [L. testari. See Testament.]

To make a testament, or will.

[Obs.]

 

© Webster 1913.


Test (?), Tes"ta (?), n.; pl. E. Tests (#), L. Testae (#). [L. testa a piece of burned clay, a broken piece of earthenware, a shell. See Test a cupel.]

1. Zool.

The external hard or firm covering of many invertebrate animals.

⇒ The test of crustaceans and insects is composed largely of chitin; in mollusks it is composed chiefly of calcium carbonate, and is called the shell.

2. Bot.

The outer integument of a seed; the episperm, or spermoderm.

 

© Webster 1913.

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