How do I tell if a regular file does not exist in Bash?

manpreet Best Answer 3 years ago

I've used the following script to see if a file exists:

#!/bin/bash

FILE=$1     
if [ -f $FILE ]; then
   echo "File $FILE exists."
else
   echo "File $FILE does not exist."
fi

What's the correct syntax to use if I only want to check if the file does not exist?

#!/bin/bash

FILE=$1     
if [ $FILE does not exist ]; then
   echo "File $FILE does not exist."
fi