check if file exists on remote host with ssh

Question

I would like to check if a certain file exists on the remote host. I tried this:

$ if [ ssh user@localhost -p 19999 -e /home/user/Dropbox/path/Research_and_Devel         


        

Answer 1

Test if a file exists:

HOST="example.com"
FILE="/path/to/file"

if ssh $HOST "test -e $FILE"; then
    echo "File exists."
else
    echo "File does not exist."
fi

And the opposite, test if a file does not exist:

HOST="example.com"
FILE="/path/to/file"

if ! ssh $HOST "test -e $FILE"; then
    echo "File does not exist."
else
    echo "File exists."
fi