According to the man page, [ -a ] and [ -e ] should have the same behaviour.
-a file
True if file exists.
...
-e file
True if file exists.
$ touch stuff.txt
$ [ -a stuff.txt ]; echo $?
0
$ [ -e stuff.txt ]; echo $?
0
$ [ ! -e stuff.txt ]; echo $?
1
$ [ ! -a stuff.txt ]; echo $?
0 # what?
Both these version show the exact same behaviour.
Fedora 18, bash 4.2.45(1)-release
OSX, 3.2.48(1)-release
Kurt
