Practice for the LPI Linux Essentials exam with 12 exam-style practice questions, instant answer reveals, and concise explanations of every correct answer. Topics include: Which of the following is a valid option for a typical command to get its built-in usage information?. Follow @CertPunch and visit certpunch.com for more certification practice exams and study content.
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What you will practice
- Which of the following is a valid option for a typical command to get its built-in usage information?
- Which command is used to make a shell variable known to subsequently executed programs?
- What option can be used with cat to display line numbers with the text of a file to the screen?
- Which of the following is a requirement of the GPL license but not the BSD license?
- Which of the following files holds the definition of the local user accounts?
- Which of the following commands is used to show the information about a directory or a symbolic link?
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. Which of the following is a valid option for a typical command to get its built-in usage information?
Answer: D. –help
The long option –help is universally recognized by most command line utilities to display quick usage information. While man pages provide comprehensive manuals, –help gives a rapid summary directly in the terminal.
Q2. Which command is used to make a shell variable known to subsequently executed programs?
Answer: C. export
The export command makes a shell variable available to subsequently executed programs by placing it into the environment. The env command only displays the current environment or runs a command in a modified one without exporting variables.
Q3. What option can be used with cat to display line numbers with the text of a file to the screen?
Answer: C. -n
The -n option displays line numbers next to a file's contents when viewed with cat. The -x flag is not used here, and the pound sign is purely a comment indicator in shell scripts.
Q4. Which of the following is a requirement of the GPL license but not the BSD license?
Answer: D. Users who modify and distribute the software under the GPL license must make the modifications they made available to the recipients under the same license
The GPL license is copyleft, meaning modified versions must be distributed under the exact same license. The BSD license is permissive and allows code modifications without requiring derivative works to remain open source.
Q5. Which of the following files holds the definition of the local user accounts?
Answer: B. /etc/passwd
The /etc/passwd file stores the basic attributes and definitions for local user accounts on the system. The other options resemble Windows paths and are entirely invalid in standard Linux account management.
Q6. Which of the following commands is used to show the information about a directory or a symbolic link?
Answer: A. ls -d
The ls -d command displays information about a directory or symbolic link itself, rather than listing its internal contents. The -s flag prints file sizes, while ln is used to create links instead of listing them.
Q7. Which of the following is an example of embedded Linux?
Answer: A. Android
Android is built on the Linux kernel and is designed for embedded systems like smartphones and tablets. Traditional desktop or server distributions like Fedora are not typically categorized as embedded operating systems.
Q8. Which of the following is the correct order of a computer's operation?
Answer: D. (1) The computer waits for user input, (2) The user selects a command and enters it via the keyboard or mouse, (3) The computer executes the command
The basic computer operation cycle involves waiting for user input, receiving a command, and executing it. The computer cannot execute the command before the user inputs it.
Q9. What permissions does foo1.txt have after running chmod 644 foo1.txt?
Answer: A. foo1.txt is readable/writeable by the owner
Octal mode 644 grants read and write permissions to the owner, and read-only permissions to the group and everyone else. Watch for options like writeable by everyone, which would require a 6 or 7 in the last octet.
Q10. A file currently has permissions of 755. Which of the following commands would change file permissions to r-xr–r–?
Answer: D. chmod 544 filename
The octal value 544 directly translates to read and execute for the owner, and read-only for the group and others. Remember that execute is one, write is two, and read is four when calculating these permissions.
Q11. What is one of the most basic features of a shell script?
Answer: B. The ability to run commands
A shell script is fundamentally designed to execute commands in sequence. While scripts can accept input or display output, the most basic function is running standard utilities, which entirely rules out compiling programs.
Q12. Which of the following displays network connections for Transmission Control Protocol, routing tables, and a number of network interface and network protocol statistics?
Answer: C. netstat
The netstat command displays network connections, routing tables, and protocol statistics. The ping utility tests reachability, and traceroute maps the network path packets take.
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