A file named "["?

[Alex]

Hi,

>>>        On one of my PCs, /bin contains an executable file whose name is
>>> the left square bracket, and nothing else.
>>>
>>>        Opening it with gedit gets something that's part text (generally
>>> if not all commented out) and part stuff I can't read.
>>>
>>>        Is there a test, usable by one who knows no code, whether it's
>>> malware??
>>>
>>>        What should I do?
>>
>>
>>   you should leave it there -- it's an actual command.
>
> Specifically it belongs to "coreutils-8.4-16.el6.x86_64".

It's used in shell scripts, such as an "if" statement, such as "if [
$? -eq 0 ]". Bash actually runs that command.

If you're really concerned about security, you could check out
rkhunter or search for "detecting root kits".

Best,
Alex