Checking thew ststus of a file

[Padiyath Sreekumaran]

Hello,
How can I check the status of a file (open, closed) in a shell script?
Is there an example available? 
Can I use lsof command and how?

Thanks in advance,
Kumar
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Padiyath Sreekumar       |   Tel: +41.56.310.3643
Paul Scherrer Institut   |   email: kumar.padiyath at psi.ch
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