010-160 Finding Your Way ON A Linux System — Timed 20 Questions

Question 1

Which command would you use to list files in long format, sorted by modification time, with the newest files appearing first?

Accepted Answer

ls -ltr. The -l (long), -t (time), and -r (reverse) flags together achieve this.

Answer

ls -lt

Answer

ls -lr

Answer

ls -Rlt

Question 2

You are trying to find the location of a binary file, specifically the 'ls' command. Which command is best suited for this?

Accepted Answer

which. The which command searches the directories listed in the PATH environment variable and returns the full path of the executable that would run when the command is invoked. For locating the 'ls' binary that the shell will actually execute, which is the precise tool. It respects aliases and PATH order, making it ideal for resolving command locations.

Answer

find

Answer

locate

Answer

whereis

Question 3

Which command is used to view the contents of a file one screen at a time?

Accepted Answer

less. The less command is a terminal pager that displays file contents one screen at a time, allowing forward and backward navigation, searching, and is the standard tool for viewing files interactively. It is more feature-rich than more and is the correct answer for viewing contents screen by screen.

Answer

head

Answer

more

Answer

cat

Question 4

You are currently in a directory and want to find files ending in '.conf' within the current folder and its subfolders. Which command is correct?

Accepted Answer

find -name "*.conf". The 'find' command with the '-name' predicate searches recursively through the current directory and all subdirectories for files matching the given pattern. Using 'find -name "*.conf"' (or more explicitly 'find . -name "*.conf"') returns every file whose name ends in .conf, regardless of depth. The quotes prevent the shell from expanding the glob before find sees it, allowing find to perform the pattern match itself.

Answer

grep "*.conf"

Answer

search *.conf

Answer

ls *.conf

Question 5

Which TWO of the following flags can be used with 'ls' to modify its output?

Accepted Answer

-a. Option B (-a) is correct because the -a flag tells ls to list all entries, including hidden files and directories whose names begin with a dot (e.g., .bashrc), which directly modifies the command's output. Option E (-l) is correct because the -l flag switches ls to long-listing format, showing permissions, link count, owner, group, size, modification time, and filename for each entry. The other options do not modify ls output in this way: -o is not a standard ls flag (in GNU ls it is accepted only as a synonym related to -l without group, but it is not the intended answer here), -z is not an ls option (it is commonly a gzip or grep flag), and -x is a valid ls flag that changes column sorting to row-major order, but it is not marked as correct for this question.

Answer

-o

Answer

-z

Answer

-x

Question 6

Which TWO of the following are valid ways to list directory contents?

Accepted Answer

ls. Option C, ls, is correct because ls is the standard Unix/Linux command that lists the contents of a directory, showing files and subdirectories. Option E, dir, is correct because dir is a valid directory-listing command (commonly used in Windows/DOS, and also available on many Unix-like systems as an alias or equivalent to ls). Option A, pwd, is incorrect because pwd prints the current working directory path rather than listing its contents. Option B, cd, is incorrect because cd changes the current working directory instead of listing files. Option D, cat, is incorrect because cat concatenates and displays file contents, not directory listings.

Answer

pwd

Answer

cd

Answer

cat

Question 7

You are working in a shell and need to display the full pathname of the executable that would run if you typed 'ls'. Which command should you execute?

Accepted Answer

command -v ls. The shell builtin 'command -v' reports how the shell resolves a command name, printing the full pathname of the executable that would be invoked. Unlike external helpers, it is portable and reflects aliases, functions, and PATH order, so it reliably answers which executable would run when the user types 'ls'.

Answer

whereis ls

Answer

type ls

Answer

which ls

Question 8

A junior administrator is logged into a Linux server and wants to display the full pathname of the current working directory, including any symbolic links that were traversed to get there. Which command should be used?

Accepted Answer

pwd -L. The pwd command prints the current working directory. Its -L option (also the default behavior) returns the logical path, preserving symbolic link names as traversed, while -P resolves them to physical paths. Because the scenario explicitly asks for the path including symbolic links, the logical form is the correct choice.

Answer

pwd -P

Answer

ls -d .

Answer

cd .

Question 9

A junior administrator is at the shell prompt and wants to display detailed information about all currently mounted filesystems, including their type, size, and mount point. Which command should be used?

Accepted Answer

mount. The mount command, when executed without arguments, reads /etc/mtab or /proc/mounts and displays each mounted filesystem with its device, mount point, filesystem type, and options. This directly satisfies the need to see type and mount point details. Other commands like df, lsblk, and fdisk provide storage or partition data but not the full mount metadata required here.

Answer

fdisk -l

Answer

lsblk

Answer

df -h

Question 10

A technician needs to locate every occurrence of the word 'timeout' in the manual page for the ssh command, and also wants the search to ignore case differences. Which TWO commands will accomplish this? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

man ssh | grep -i timeout. Both a case-insensitive grep pipeline and a case-insensitive less search inspect the ssh manual content for the pattern. The keyword search option only queries the manual index, the inverted grep returns non-matching lines, and a plain grep would miss capitalized variants. Thus the two approaches that combine content search with case insensitivity are correct.

Answer

man -k timeout

Answer

man ssh | grep -v timeout

Answer

man ssh | grep timeout

Question 11

A user wants to locate all files under '/etc' whose names end with '.conf'. Which TWO commands will produce a list of matching files without also listing directories that match the pattern? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

find /etc -type f -name '*.conf'. The 'find' utility evaluates tests in order and can filter by file type with '-type f'. Combined with '-name *.conf', it returns only regular files whose names end in '.conf'. The '-print' action simply makes the output explicit and is the default. Together, these two forms of the command satisfy the requirement without listing matching directories.

Answer

grep -r '*.conf' /etc

Answer

find /etc -name '*.conf' -type d

Answer

ls /etc/*.conf

Question 12

A user needs to display the contents of the file '/etc/passwd' with line numbers and then view only the first ten lines of the same file. Which TWO commands accomplish these tasks? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

head /etc/passwd. Numbering every line of a file is done with cat -n, and viewing the first ten lines is the default behavior of head. Together these two commands satisfy both stated requirements. Counting lines with wc, showing the last ten with tail, or duplicating the numbering function with nl does not fulfill the combination the user needs.

Answer

wc -l /etc/passwd

Answer

nl -b a /etc/passwd

Answer

tail -n 10 /etc/passwd

Question 13

A user is in the directory /home/alex/projects and wants to copy the file report.txt to /tmp/archive/ while preserving the original file's timestamps and permissions. Which command accomplishes this?

Accepted Answer

cp -p report.txt /tmp/archive/. To copy a file while retaining its timestamps and permissions, cp -p is the correct choice. The -p flag preserves mode, ownership, and timestamps, which matches the stated requirements. Plain cp loses timestamps, mv relocates rather than copies, and cp -a is overly broad and can cause ownership-related errors for regular users. Therefore, cp -p is the most appropriate command.

Answer

cp report.txt /tmp/archive/

Answer

mv report.txt /tmp/archive/

Answer

cp -a report.txt /tmp/archive/

Question 14

An administrator is in /var and wants to list the contents of the /etc directory, including hidden files, sorted by modification time with the newest first, without changing the current working directory. Which command achieves this?

Accepted Answer

ls -lta /etc. Listing another directory requires passing its path as an argument to ls, which does not change the shell's working directory. Combining -l for detail, -t for newest-first time sorting, and -a for hidden entries meets all conditions. The other choices either sort oldest first, omit hidden files, or change directory, violating at least one requirement.

Answer

ls -ltr /etc

Answer

ls -lt /etc && cd /etc

Answer

ls -at /etc

Question 15

A technician needs to display the first few lines of /etc/services, including a small header that names the file, and then inspect the file's inode number and size without opening an editor. Which two commands accomplish these goals? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

stat /etc/services. Viewing the top of a file is the job of head, which stops after the requested number of lines, while metadata such as inode number and byte size comes from stat. Together they cover both requirements: a short content preview and a detailed status report, with neither command altering the file.

Answer

cat -n /etc/services

Answer

file /etc/services

Answer

wc -l /etc/services

Question 16

A user wants to view the first 15 lines of a large log file named system.log and then follow the file as new lines are appended in real time. Which command should be used?

Accepted Answer

head -n 15 system.log && tail -f system.log. To display the first 15 lines and then follow the file, combining head -n 15 with tail -f using && is the correct approach. head shows the beginning, and tail -f keeps the terminal open to show new lines. Using tail -n 15 shows the wrong end, tail -n +15 skips the first 14 lines, and head alone does not follow. The combined command meets both parts of the scenario.

Answer

tail -n 15 system.log

Answer

tail -n +15 -f system.log

Answer

head -n 15 system.log

Question 17

You want to delete a directory named 'temp_backup' that contains several files. Which command will successfully remove it and its contents?

Accepted Answer

rm -r temp_backup. `rm -r temp_backup` recursively removes the directory and all its contents, which is required because `rm` by default refuses to delete directories. The -r (recursive) flag descends into subdirectories and deletes files before removing the directory itself. This is the standard way to delete a non-empty directory.

Answer

rm temp_backup

Answer

rmdir temp_backup

Answer

rm -f temp_backup

Question 18

To navigate from your current directory to your home directory regardless of your current location, which command is most efficient?

Accepted Answer

cd ~. The 'cd ~' command navigates directly to the current user's home directory from any location. The tilde (~) is a shell expansion that represents the home directory path, making it the most efficient and location-independent way to return home. 'cd' alone also works, but 'cd ~' is explicit and universally correct.

Answer

cd ..

Answer

cd /

Answer

cd /home

Question 19

Which of the following commands is used to create an empty file or update the timestamp of an existing file?

Accepted Answer

touch. The `touch` command is specifically designed to create an empty file if it does not exist, or update the access and modification timestamps of an existing file to the current time. It does this by making a `utime()` system call, which sets the file's timestamps without altering its content. This is the standard Linux/Unix utility for timestamp manipulation and empty file creation.

Answer

cp

Answer

mkdir

Answer

mv

Question 20

You are copying a directory named 'source' to 'destination' and want to ensure all subdirectories and file attributes are preserved. Which flag is essential?

Accepted Answer

cp -a. The `-a` (archive) flag is a combination of `-dR --preserve=all`, which recursively copies directories while preserving symbolic links, file permissions, ownership, timestamps, and extended attributes. This makes it the only option that ensures all subdirectories and file attributes are preserved in a single command. While `-p` preserves some attributes, it does not recurse into subdirectories, and `-r` recurses but does not preserve attributes. Therefore, `cp -a` is essential for a complete archive copy.

Answer

cp -p

Answer

cp -v

Answer

cp -r