DCOM 142 LINUX MIDTERM EXAMS ALL
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔The first process to be run by the Linux kernel is normally called _______ -
✔✔Answer: init
✔✔True or false: The /var/log/messages file always holds general-purpose log entries. -
✔✔False
Although /var/log/messages is a common name for a general-purpose log file, not all
distributions use this name; some use /var/log/syslog or some other file for this purpose.
✔✔The process that launched a given process is known as the ________ process -
✔✔Answer: parent
✔✔A condition in which a program allocates more and more memory but doesn't use
the memory it allocates is called a ______ ______ (two words). - ✔✔Answer: memory
leak
✔✔An Internet site that hosts software that you can install with yum, APT, or a similar
tool is known as a __________. - ✔✔Answer: repository
✔✔True or false: The ps program enables you to view the process table. - ✔✔True
,The ps program is one of the primary means of viewing the process table, which holds
information on running processes.
✔✔True or false: Pressing the M key in top causes the display to change to sort
processes by memory use. - ✔✔True
The M key in top works as specified.
✔✔True or false: You can use grep to search for strings in binary files. - ✔✔True
Although grep is more commonly employed to search text files, it can search for strings
in binary files.
✔✔The _________ option to tar causes it to back up only the specified low-level
filesystem; if another filesystem is mounted within the directory you say to back up,
those files will be ignored. - ✔✔Answer: --one-file-system
✔✔True or false: A carat (^) represents the start of a line in regular expressions. -
✔✔True
The carat (^) represents the start of a line, as the question specifies.
✔✔True or false: Linux supports two types of text-mode output to the screen, which you
can send to separate files or display devices. - ✔✔True
The two types of output are standard output and standard error.
✔✔You use the ___ character to separate two strings, either of which should match, in
an extended regular expression. - ✔✔Answer: | (pipe)
✔✔You can use the ____ command to count the characters, words, and lines in a text
file. - ✔✔Answer: wc
✔✔True or false: With most distributions, the contents of optical discs, USB flash drives,
and other removable media appear in subdirectories of /media. - ✔✔True
Most distributions automatically mount removable media in their own subdirectories of
/media. This practice is not universal, but it is very common, particularly when running
desktop environments such as GNOME, KDE, or Xfce.
✔✔The character __ identifies a symbolic link in the 10-character symbolic permission
string that's associated with a file. - ✔✔Answer: l (Lower case L) Found on pg 142
, ✔✔You want to create a directory called ~/Documents/papers, but you're not sure that
the ~/Documents directory exists. What command can you type to create the desired
directory and its parent directory if it doesn't already exist? - ✔✔Answer: E
The -p option to mkdir creates parent directories if they don't already exist, so option E
is correct. The -a, --recursive, -R, and -r options are all fictitious, so options A, B, C, and
D are all incorrect.
✔✔You want to copy a set of files but be prompted before cp overwrites any existing
files. You would use the ___ option to cp to accomplish this goal. - ✔✔Answer: --
interactive or -i
✔✔True or false: When operating on large files, the mv command works very quickly
when the target directory is on the same low-level filesystem as the original file, but
much more slowly when this isn't the case. - ✔✔True
The mv command moves or renames files, and it works by rewriting low-level filesystem
data without touching the file's data when the target is on the same filesystem as the
original. Thus, it can work quickly when this is the case. When moving a file across
filesystems, though, mv must copy the data, which can take a while when the file is
large.
✔✔The files afile.txt and AFile.TXT can both exist on a Linux filesystem because these
filesystems are ____________. - ✔✔Answer: case-sensitive
✔✔True or false: Typing ls *.* at a Bash prompt is guaranteed to show you all the files
in the current directory. - ✔✔False
The specified command shows you all the files whose names include a dot (.), but
there's no guarantee that all the files in the directory will include a dot in their names.
✔✔You want to copy the contents of the ~/important directory, including all its
subdirectories, to /media/usb. What command can you type to accomplish this goal? -
✔✔B
To copy an entire directory tree, you must use a recursive copy parameter, such as --
recursive, -R, or -r. (An archive copy, as in --archive or -a, will also work.) Of the options
shown here, only B includes one of these parameters, so it is correct. Option A lacks
any parameters to cp, so it won't work. Option C's -u option performs an update copy—it
copies files only if the original file is newer than any file of the same name at the target
location. Option D's -i performs an interactive copy, querying the user before overwriting
existing files. Option E's -f option forces cp to overwrite existing files without prompting.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔The first process to be run by the Linux kernel is normally called _______ -
✔✔Answer: init
✔✔True or false: The /var/log/messages file always holds general-purpose log entries. -
✔✔False
Although /var/log/messages is a common name for a general-purpose log file, not all
distributions use this name; some use /var/log/syslog or some other file for this purpose.
✔✔The process that launched a given process is known as the ________ process -
✔✔Answer: parent
✔✔A condition in which a program allocates more and more memory but doesn't use
the memory it allocates is called a ______ ______ (two words). - ✔✔Answer: memory
leak
✔✔An Internet site that hosts software that you can install with yum, APT, or a similar
tool is known as a __________. - ✔✔Answer: repository
✔✔True or false: The ps program enables you to view the process table. - ✔✔True
,The ps program is one of the primary means of viewing the process table, which holds
information on running processes.
✔✔True or false: Pressing the M key in top causes the display to change to sort
processes by memory use. - ✔✔True
The M key in top works as specified.
✔✔True or false: You can use grep to search for strings in binary files. - ✔✔True
Although grep is more commonly employed to search text files, it can search for strings
in binary files.
✔✔The _________ option to tar causes it to back up only the specified low-level
filesystem; if another filesystem is mounted within the directory you say to back up,
those files will be ignored. - ✔✔Answer: --one-file-system
✔✔True or false: A carat (^) represents the start of a line in regular expressions. -
✔✔True
The carat (^) represents the start of a line, as the question specifies.
✔✔True or false: Linux supports two types of text-mode output to the screen, which you
can send to separate files or display devices. - ✔✔True
The two types of output are standard output and standard error.
✔✔You use the ___ character to separate two strings, either of which should match, in
an extended regular expression. - ✔✔Answer: | (pipe)
✔✔You can use the ____ command to count the characters, words, and lines in a text
file. - ✔✔Answer: wc
✔✔True or false: With most distributions, the contents of optical discs, USB flash drives,
and other removable media appear in subdirectories of /media. - ✔✔True
Most distributions automatically mount removable media in their own subdirectories of
/media. This practice is not universal, but it is very common, particularly when running
desktop environments such as GNOME, KDE, or Xfce.
✔✔The character __ identifies a symbolic link in the 10-character symbolic permission
string that's associated with a file. - ✔✔Answer: l (Lower case L) Found on pg 142
, ✔✔You want to create a directory called ~/Documents/papers, but you're not sure that
the ~/Documents directory exists. What command can you type to create the desired
directory and its parent directory if it doesn't already exist? - ✔✔Answer: E
The -p option to mkdir creates parent directories if they don't already exist, so option E
is correct. The -a, --recursive, -R, and -r options are all fictitious, so options A, B, C, and
D are all incorrect.
✔✔You want to copy a set of files but be prompted before cp overwrites any existing
files. You would use the ___ option to cp to accomplish this goal. - ✔✔Answer: --
interactive or -i
✔✔True or false: When operating on large files, the mv command works very quickly
when the target directory is on the same low-level filesystem as the original file, but
much more slowly when this isn't the case. - ✔✔True
The mv command moves or renames files, and it works by rewriting low-level filesystem
data without touching the file's data when the target is on the same filesystem as the
original. Thus, it can work quickly when this is the case. When moving a file across
filesystems, though, mv must copy the data, which can take a while when the file is
large.
✔✔The files afile.txt and AFile.TXT can both exist on a Linux filesystem because these
filesystems are ____________. - ✔✔Answer: case-sensitive
✔✔True or false: Typing ls *.* at a Bash prompt is guaranteed to show you all the files
in the current directory. - ✔✔False
The specified command shows you all the files whose names include a dot (.), but
there's no guarantee that all the files in the directory will include a dot in their names.
✔✔You want to copy the contents of the ~/important directory, including all its
subdirectories, to /media/usb. What command can you type to accomplish this goal? -
✔✔B
To copy an entire directory tree, you must use a recursive copy parameter, such as --
recursive, -R, or -r. (An archive copy, as in --archive or -a, will also work.) Of the options
shown here, only B includes one of these parameters, so it is correct. Option A lacks
any parameters to cp, so it won't work. Option C's -u option performs an update copy—it
copies files only if the original file is newer than any file of the same name at the target
location. Option D's -i performs an interactive copy, querying the user before overwriting
existing files. Option E's -f option forces cp to overwrite existing files without prompting.
