In Unix-like operating systems, false is the command that always returns the value 1, which is regarded by the shell as the logical valuefalse. A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. ... An operating system (OS) is a software program that manages the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... In computing, a shell is a piece of software that essentially provides a kind of interface for end-users. ... In logic and mathematics, a logical value, also called a truth value, is a value indicating to what extent a proposition is true. ...
This program takes no parameters.
It can be used to make a sequence of otherwise useful commands to fail, as in the example:
make … && false
false is considered to be more portable than true due to the fact that even if it is absent in the system, the call to it will fail, thus returning the correct value false. In computer science, porting is the adaptation of a piece of software so that it will function in a different computing environment to that for which it was originally written. ...