I totally agree with @macy-davis, but here’s another way to make things even more concise. If you’re working on shorter scripts or in-line checks, you can combine the logic into a one-liner using the && operator. This makes your script more compact and executes only when the file is missing. Here’s how:
[ ! -f "$FILE" ] && echo "File is missing, handling it..."
This avoids traditional if blocks entirely, and it’s fantastic for quick automation hooks or cron jobs where you just need to take action when the file is absent. It’s clean and efficient, plus it keeps things running smoothly without the need for extra conditional structures.