false

return failure exit status

TLDR

Return failure status

$ false

Use in conditional

$ if false; then echo "never"; fi

Chain with or

$ false || echo "false returned failure"

Infinite loop idiom (until never succeeds)

$ until false; do :; done

false does nothing and returns a failure exit status (1). It's the counterpart to true and is used in shell scripts for flow control, testing, and as a placeholder.The command takes no operands and always exits with status 1, indicating failure. This makes it useful in conditional statements, loops that should never execute, and testing error handling.false is a POSIX-standard command and shell builtin, providing a guaranteed failure exit status.

PARAMETERS

--help

Display help information.

--version

Display version information.

INSTALL

sudo apt install coreutils

sudo dnf install coreutils

sudo pacman -S coreutils

sudo apk add coreutils

sudo zypper install coreutils

brew install coreutils

nix profile install nixpkgs#coreutils

CAVEATS

As a builtin, behavior may vary slightly between shells. Exit status is always 1 (or non-zero). Does absolutely nothing else.

HISTORY

false has been part of Unix since Version 7 (1979). It's one of the simplest Unix commands, existing solely to return a failure status. It's specified by POSIX and implemented as both a standalone utility and shell builtin.

RESOURCES

Source code · Homepage