Shells, Scripting and Data Management →hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

LPIC-1 Shells, Scripting and Data Management Practice Question

A developer needs to ensure a bash script exits immediately if any command fails, and also prints each command before executing it. Which set of shell options should be used at the beginning of the script?

⚠ Common exam trap

Candidates often confuse `-v` (verbose, which prints input lines as read) with `-x` (xtrace, which prints commands before execution), or forget that `-e` is required for exit-on-error, leading them to pick `set -vx` or `set -ux` instead of the correct `set -ex`.

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

✓

set -ex

`set -ex` combines two essential shell options: `-e` (errexit) causes the script to exit immediately if any command returns a non-zero exit status, and `-x` (xtrace) prints each command (after expansion) to stderr before executing it. This is the standard way to achieve both behaviors in a single line, as required by the question.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

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

✓
set -ex
Why this is correct
-e exits on error, -x prints commands.
✗
set -e
Why it's wrong here
-e exits on error but does not print commands.
✗
set -vx
Why it's wrong here
-v prints shell input lines, but does not exit on error.
✗
set -ux
Why it's wrong here
-u treats unset variables as error, -x prints commands, but does not exit on command failure.

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LPIC-1 Shells, Scripting and Data Management Practice Question

Why each option matters

Option-by-option breakdown

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