IFT250-Final Questions and Answers Fully
Solved 100% |Updated 2026/2027|
Name some interpretive languages available on UNIX systems. - ANSWER -The
shell, perl, tcl, and python
Name three notable Linux flavors. - ANSWER -Fedora, SuSE, Ubuntu
2.1 Enter a : and press [Enter]. Next run type :. What do you conclude? -
ANSWER -The : must be a command that does nothing. The command type :
indicates that the command is built into the shell.
2.2 UNIX commands must be in lowercase and must not have extensions. True or
false? - ANSWER -False, you can use uppercase and provide extensions to
command filenames, although convention follows the opposite
2.3 Name three UNIX commands whose names are more than five characters
long. - ANSWER -printf, script, and passwd.
2.4 Find out whether these commands are internal or external: echo, date, pwd,
and ls. - ANSWER -echo and pwd are internal commands; date and ls are external.
2.5 If two commands with the same filename exist in two directories in PATH,
how can they be executed? - ANSWER -The command that occurs first in the
PATH list would require no special treatment. The other command needs to be
used with a pathname.
2.6 How is the current directory indicated in PATH? - ANSWER -With a dot.
2.7 How many options are there in this command? ls -lut chap01 note3 -
ANSWER -Three.
, 2.8 If you find yourself using options preceded by two hyphens (like --all), which
flavor of UNIX could you be using? - ANSWER -Linux.
2.9 What is the name given to the command and its options and arguments? -
ANSWER -The command line.
2.10 How do you find out the version number of your operating system? -
ANSWER -uname -r.
2.11 Why are the directories /bin and /usr/bin usually found first in PATH? -
ANSWER -Because the commonly used UNIX commands are located there.
2.12 What is whitespace? Explain the treatment the shell metes out to a command
that contains a lot of whitespace. - ANSWER -Whitespace is a contiguous set of
spaces, tabs, and newline characters. The shell compresses multiple contiguous
whitespace characters into a single space.
2.13 Do you need to wait for a command to finish before entering the next one? -
ANSWER -No, the buffer associated with the keyboard stores all input.
2.14 Why doesn't this command run in the way it is meant to? printf "Filename:
%s\n", fname - ANSWER -fname is supposedly a variable, so it should be
prefixed with a $.
2.15 What is a pager? Name the two standard pagers used by man. - ANSWER -A
pager is a program that displays text on the screen a page at a time. more and less
are two standard pagers used by man.
2.16 You located the string crontab in a man page by searching with
/crontab[Enter]. How do you find out the other occurrences of this string in the
page? - ANSWER -Press n repeatedly.
2.17 You don't know the name of the command that could do a job. What do you
do? - ANSWER -Try using apropos with a keyword.
,2.18 How do you find out the users who are idling from the man documentation of
who? - ANSWER -The -u option provides information on idle time.
2.19 What is the difference between the mailbox and mbox? - ANSWER -
Unviewed mail is deposited in the mailbox, but viewed mail moves to the mbox.
2.20 The passwd command didn't prompt for the old password. When do you
think that can happen? Where is the password stored? - ANSWER -The root user
is not prompted for the old password. The password encryption is stored in
/etc/shadow.
2.21 Can you change the system date with the date command? - ANSWER -Not
as an ordinary user.
2.22 Enter the uname command without any arguments. What do you think the
output represents? - ANSWER -The name of the operating system.
2.23 How will you record your login session in the file foo? - ANSWER -Run
script foo at the beginning of the session.
2.24 Interpret the following output of who am i: romeo pts/10 Aug 1 07:56
(pc123.heavens.com) - ANSWER -The command is run by romeo who is logged
in from a host named pc123 at the date and time shown. romeo's terminal file is
pts/10.
2.25 How do you determine the erase, kill and eof characters on your system? -
ANSWER -Run stty -a and look for these three keywords in the output.
2.26 You suddenly find your keyboard is displaying uppercase letters even though
your [CapsLock] key is set properly. What should you try? - ANSWER -stty sane
3.1 How long can a UNIX filename be? What characters can't be used in a
filename? - ANSWER -255 characters. The / and NULL (ASCII value 0) can't be
used as filename characters.
, 3.2 State two reasons for not having a filename beginning with a hyphen. -
ANSWER -(i) Difficult to remove such a file. (ii) Many commands interpret such
filenames as options.
3.3 Name the two types of ordinary files, and explain the difference between them.
Provide three examples of each type of file. - ANSWER -Ordinary files can be
grouped into text and binary. A text file contains only printable characters whose
ASCII values are less than 128. A binary file can contain any character. C source
programs and perl and shell scripts are text files. Executable programs, image files,
and music files are binary in nature.
3.4 Can the files note and Note coexist in the same directory? - ANSWER -Yes,
UNIX filenames are case-sensitive.
3.5 Frame cd commands to change from (i) /var/spool/lp/admins to
/var/spool/mail, (ii) /usr/include/sys to /usr. - ANSWER -(i) cd ../../mail (ii) cd ../..
or cd /usr
3.6 Switch to the root directory with cd, and then run cd .. followed by pwd. What
do you notice? - ANSWER -The directory doesn't change.
3.7 Explain the significance of these two commands: ls .. ; ls -d ... - ANSWER -ls
.. displays all filenames in the parent directory, but ls -d .. shows .. as the parent
directory without displaying its contents.
3.8 Can you execute any command in /sbin and /usr/sbin by using the absolute
pathname? - ANSWER -Only some of them; most are meant for use by the
superuser.
3.9 If the file /bin/echo exists on your system, are the commands echo and
/bin/echo equivalent? - ANSWER -No, echo is also a shell builtin which is
executed by default.
Solved 100% |Updated 2026/2027|
Name some interpretive languages available on UNIX systems. - ANSWER -The
shell, perl, tcl, and python
Name three notable Linux flavors. - ANSWER -Fedora, SuSE, Ubuntu
2.1 Enter a : and press [Enter]. Next run type :. What do you conclude? -
ANSWER -The : must be a command that does nothing. The command type :
indicates that the command is built into the shell.
2.2 UNIX commands must be in lowercase and must not have extensions. True or
false? - ANSWER -False, you can use uppercase and provide extensions to
command filenames, although convention follows the opposite
2.3 Name three UNIX commands whose names are more than five characters
long. - ANSWER -printf, script, and passwd.
2.4 Find out whether these commands are internal or external: echo, date, pwd,
and ls. - ANSWER -echo and pwd are internal commands; date and ls are external.
2.5 If two commands with the same filename exist in two directories in PATH,
how can they be executed? - ANSWER -The command that occurs first in the
PATH list would require no special treatment. The other command needs to be
used with a pathname.
2.6 How is the current directory indicated in PATH? - ANSWER -With a dot.
2.7 How many options are there in this command? ls -lut chap01 note3 -
ANSWER -Three.
, 2.8 If you find yourself using options preceded by two hyphens (like --all), which
flavor of UNIX could you be using? - ANSWER -Linux.
2.9 What is the name given to the command and its options and arguments? -
ANSWER -The command line.
2.10 How do you find out the version number of your operating system? -
ANSWER -uname -r.
2.11 Why are the directories /bin and /usr/bin usually found first in PATH? -
ANSWER -Because the commonly used UNIX commands are located there.
2.12 What is whitespace? Explain the treatment the shell metes out to a command
that contains a lot of whitespace. - ANSWER -Whitespace is a contiguous set of
spaces, tabs, and newline characters. The shell compresses multiple contiguous
whitespace characters into a single space.
2.13 Do you need to wait for a command to finish before entering the next one? -
ANSWER -No, the buffer associated with the keyboard stores all input.
2.14 Why doesn't this command run in the way it is meant to? printf "Filename:
%s\n", fname - ANSWER -fname is supposedly a variable, so it should be
prefixed with a $.
2.15 What is a pager? Name the two standard pagers used by man. - ANSWER -A
pager is a program that displays text on the screen a page at a time. more and less
are two standard pagers used by man.
2.16 You located the string crontab in a man page by searching with
/crontab[Enter]. How do you find out the other occurrences of this string in the
page? - ANSWER -Press n repeatedly.
2.17 You don't know the name of the command that could do a job. What do you
do? - ANSWER -Try using apropos with a keyword.
,2.18 How do you find out the users who are idling from the man documentation of
who? - ANSWER -The -u option provides information on idle time.
2.19 What is the difference between the mailbox and mbox? - ANSWER -
Unviewed mail is deposited in the mailbox, but viewed mail moves to the mbox.
2.20 The passwd command didn't prompt for the old password. When do you
think that can happen? Where is the password stored? - ANSWER -The root user
is not prompted for the old password. The password encryption is stored in
/etc/shadow.
2.21 Can you change the system date with the date command? - ANSWER -Not
as an ordinary user.
2.22 Enter the uname command without any arguments. What do you think the
output represents? - ANSWER -The name of the operating system.
2.23 How will you record your login session in the file foo? - ANSWER -Run
script foo at the beginning of the session.
2.24 Interpret the following output of who am i: romeo pts/10 Aug 1 07:56
(pc123.heavens.com) - ANSWER -The command is run by romeo who is logged
in from a host named pc123 at the date and time shown. romeo's terminal file is
pts/10.
2.25 How do you determine the erase, kill and eof characters on your system? -
ANSWER -Run stty -a and look for these three keywords in the output.
2.26 You suddenly find your keyboard is displaying uppercase letters even though
your [CapsLock] key is set properly. What should you try? - ANSWER -stty sane
3.1 How long can a UNIX filename be? What characters can't be used in a
filename? - ANSWER -255 characters. The / and NULL (ASCII value 0) can't be
used as filename characters.
, 3.2 State two reasons for not having a filename beginning with a hyphen. -
ANSWER -(i) Difficult to remove such a file. (ii) Many commands interpret such
filenames as options.
3.3 Name the two types of ordinary files, and explain the difference between them.
Provide three examples of each type of file. - ANSWER -Ordinary files can be
grouped into text and binary. A text file contains only printable characters whose
ASCII values are less than 128. A binary file can contain any character. C source
programs and perl and shell scripts are text files. Executable programs, image files,
and music files are binary in nature.
3.4 Can the files note and Note coexist in the same directory? - ANSWER -Yes,
UNIX filenames are case-sensitive.
3.5 Frame cd commands to change from (i) /var/spool/lp/admins to
/var/spool/mail, (ii) /usr/include/sys to /usr. - ANSWER -(i) cd ../../mail (ii) cd ../..
or cd /usr
3.6 Switch to the root directory with cd, and then run cd .. followed by pwd. What
do you notice? - ANSWER -The directory doesn't change.
3.7 Explain the significance of these two commands: ls .. ; ls -d ... - ANSWER -ls
.. displays all filenames in the parent directory, but ls -d .. shows .. as the parent
directory without displaying its contents.
3.8 Can you execute any command in /sbin and /usr/sbin by using the absolute
pathname? - ANSWER -Only some of them; most are meant for use by the
superuser.
3.9 If the file /bin/echo exists on your system, are the commands echo and
/bin/echo equivalent? - ANSWER -No, echo is also a shell builtin which is
executed by default.
