Google ACE Practice Question: A startup's GCP project has a project ID of…

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

• ✗

  The project number is always the same as the last 12 digits of the project ID

  Why it's wrong here

  The project number is a system-generated numeric identifier assigned by Google Cloud at project creation, while the project ID is a user-selected, globally unique string used in commands and console URLs. The last 12 digits of the project ID have no relation to the project number; for example, a project ID like 'my-startup-prod' contains no digits, yet the project number is always a distinct 12-digit integer. Therefore, the project number cannot be derived from the project ID string.

• ✓

  Run `gcloud projects describe my-startup-prod` and look for the projectNumber field

  Why this is correct

  This command, `gcloud projects describe my-startup-prod`, queries the Cloud Resource Manager API and returns the project's metadata, including its `projectNumber` field, which is the unique numeric identifier assigned by Google Cloud. Unlike other methods that may be ambiguous or incorrect, this approach works regardless of the project ID's format and is the documented way to retrieve a project number from the CLI. The output also shows the project ID, name, and lifecycle state for confirmation.

• ✗

  Run `gcloud config get-value project-number`

  Why it's wrong here

  `gcloud config get-value` retrieves values from the local gcloud configuration, but there is no configuration property named `project-number`; the closest property is `project`, which stores the project ID, not the numeric project number. Running this command with `project-number` would produce an error indicating the property is not set, or return an empty string, making it an invalid method. To find the project number, you must ask the API via `gcloud projects describe` instead of checking local config.

• ✗

  The project number appears in the URL bar of the GCP Console — it's the number after /project/

  Why it's wrong here

  The GCP Console URL for a resource includes the project ID as a query parameter, not the project number, for example, `?...project=my-startup-prod`. The segment after `/project/` in a console URL is the project ID, which is the human-readable string, not the numeric project number. The project number does appear in the Console UI, but it is located in the 'Project info' card on the dashboard, not in the URL bar.

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