XK0-006 System Management Practice Question
A user wants to view the contents of a text file one page at a time. Which two commands can be used? (Choose two.)
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
less
Both less (A) and more (E) are paging utilities that display a text file one screenful at a time and pause for the user to scroll, which directly matches the requirement. less is the more capable pager, supporting both forward and backward navigation plus searching, while more provides basic forward paging and is available on virtually all Unix-like systems. The other commands do not page output: cat (B) dumps the entire file to standard output at once, and tail (C) and head (D) only print the last or first lines (10 by default) respectively, so none of them let the user view the file page by page.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
less
Why this is correct
less displays file contents one screenful at a time, supporting forward and backward scrolling plus in-page searching. It satisfies the paging requirement directly, unlike cat, which dumps the entire file to standard output without pagination.
- ✗
cat
Why it's wrong here
cat writes the entire file to standard output in one pass, scrolling past the terminal without pausing. It is tempting for short files or piping into another command, where full output is wanted. Paging requires less or more, which display one screenful and wait for input.
- ✗
tail
Why it's wrong here
tail prints the final lines of a file and exits, so it cannot paginate interactively. It is tempting because tail -f streams growing logs, which suits monitoring live output rather than reading a static file page by page. less and more provide the required paging.
- ✗
head
Why it's wrong here
head outputs only the first lines of a file and terminates, offering no paging controls. It is tempting for quickly previewing a file's start, which is its actual purpose. less and more instead display content screen by screen with navigation, satisfying the one-page-at-a-time requirement.
- ✓
more
Why this is correct
`more` paginates a file by displaying one screenful at a time and pausing for the user to advance, satisfying the one-page-at-a-time constraint. It streams output sequentially, unlike `cat`, which dumps the entire file at once. This makes it a valid choice alongside `less` for viewing text page by page.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Managing Storage and File Systems
Key term
Output
In IT service management, output is the result or deliverable produced by a process, system, or component, such as data, reports, or services delivered to a customer.
Key term
User
A user is any person, system, or device that interacts with an IT service, resource, or identity system, typically authenticated through credentials and authorized to perform specific actions.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This XK0-006 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the XK0-006 exam.