> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.syntblaze.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Bash Same File The `-ef` (equivalent file) operator is a binary file test operator in Bash that evaluates whether two paths refer to the identical physical file on the filesystem. It returns a true (`0`) exit status if and only if both files exist and possess the exact same device number (`st_dev`) and inode number (`st_ino`). ```bash theme={"dark"} [ FILE1 -ef FILE2 ] [[ FILE1 -ef FILE2 ]] test FILE1 -ef FILE2 ``` ## Technical Behavior * **System-Level Evaluation:** The operator relies on the underlying `stat()` system call. It does not perform byte-by-byte content comparison or string-based path comparison. It strictly compares the filesystem metadata (`st_dev` and `st_ino` fields). * **Symbolic Link Dereferencing:** The `-ef` operator automatically resolves (dereferences) symbolic links. If `FILE1` is a symlink pointing to `FILE2`, the operator evaluates the inode of the resolved target, resulting in a true evaluation. * **Hard Link Resolution:** Because hard links are multiple directory entries pointing to the same inode on the same filesystem, comparing two distinct hard link paths of the same file with `-ef` will evaluate to true. * **Non-Existent Files:** If either `FILE1` or `FILE2` does not exist, or if either path resolves to a broken symbolic link, the operator evaluates to false (`1`) without throwing a syntax error.

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