IFT 250 FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE 2025/2026
The ________ interacts with the hardware and the _________ interacts with the user - Answers
operating system, Shell
A program is synonymous with a process. True or false? - Answers False
Every character has a number associated with it. What is it called? - Answers the ASCII value
If you see a prompt like mailhost login:, what do you think mailhost represents? - Answers The
machine name
If the system echoes Login incorrect, does it mean that your user-id is incorrect? - Answers Not
necessarily, the password could be incorrect
Name the command you used in this chapter to display filenames. - Answers ls
Name the command you used in this chapter to display processes - Answers ps
Name the command you used in this chapter to display users. - Answers who
Who are the principal architects of the UNIX operating system? - Answers Ken Thompson and
Dennis Ritchie
Why did AT&T virtually give away UNIX to the world? - Answers Because it was prevented byt the
US government from selling computer software
Where did BSD UNIX originate? Name some features of UNIX that were first found in BSD UNIX -
Answers From the University of California, Berkeley.
vi editor, C shell, symbolic links, and TCP/IP
Which flavor of UNIX is available for free and runs on the PC? - Answers Linux
Identify the companies associated with Solaris UNIX. - Answers Sun
Identify the companies associated with AIX UNIX - Answers IBM
Identify the companies associated with Tru64 UNIX - Answers HP (Digital)
What does X/OPEN represent? Who owns the UNIX trademark today? - Answers a standards
body now merged with The Open Group which owns the UNIX trademark
Who are the two brains behind Linux? - Answers Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds
What is the distinctive characteristic about the GNU General Public License? - Answers Software
developers distributing products under this license must make the source code public.
,Why is UNIX more portable than other operating systems? - Answers Because it is written in C, a
high-level language (high-level lanuage can run without major modifications when moved to
another machine.
Can you divide UNIX into two major schools? To which school does Sun's UNIX belong? -
Answers Yes, System V (AT&T) and BSD (Berkeley): Sun is based on BSD but Solaris is based on
AT&T's SVR4
Why do UNIX tools perform simple jobs rather than complex ones? - Answers because complex
jobs can be completed by connecting a number of these simple ones.
What is the windowing system of UNIX known as? - Answers The X Window system
Name some interpretive languages available on UNIX systems. - Answers The shell, perl, tcl, and
python
Name three notable Linux flavors. - Answers Fedora, SuSE, Ubuntu
2.1 Enter a : and press [Enter]. Next run type :. What do you conclude? - Answers The : must be a
command that does nothing. The command type : indicates that the command is built into the
shell.
2.2 UNIX commands must be in lowercase and must not have extensions. True or false? -
Answers False, you can use uppercase and provide extensions to command filenames, although
convention follows the opposite
2.3 Name three UNIX commands whose names are more than five characters long. - Answers
printf, script, and passwd.
2.4 Find out whether these commands are internal or external: echo, date, pwd, and ls. -
Answers echo and pwd are internal commands; date and ls are external.
2.5 If two commands with the same filename exist in two directories in PATH, how can they be
executed? - Answers The command that occurs first in the PATH list would require no special
treatment. The other command needs to be used with a pathname.
2.6 How is the current directory indicated in PATH? - Answers With a dot.
2.7 How many options are there in this command? ls -lut chap01 note3 - Answers Three.
2.8 If you find yourself using options preceded by two hyphens (like --all), which flavor of UNIX
could you be using? - Answers Linux.
2.9 What is the name given to the command and its options and arguments? - Answers The
command line.
2.10 How do you find out the version number of your operating system? - Answers uname -r.
,2.11 Why are the directories /bin and /usr/bin usually found first in PATH? - Answers Because
the commonly used UNIX commands are located there.
2.12 What is whitespace? Explain the treatment the shell metes out to a command that contains
a lot of whitespace. - Answers Whitespace is a contiguous set of spaces, tabs, and newline
characters. The shell compresses multiple contiguous whitespace characters into a single
space.
2.13 Do you need to wait for a command to finish before entering the next one? - Answers No,
the buffer associated with the keyboard stores all input.
2.14 Why doesn't this command run in the way it is meant to? printf "Filename: %s\n", fname -
Answers fname is supposedly a variable, so it should be prefixed with a $.
2.15 What is a pager? Name the two standard pagers used by man. - Answers A pager is a
program that displays text on the screen a page at a time. more and less are two standard
pagers used by man.
2.16 You located the string crontab in a man page by searching with /crontab[Enter]. How do
you find out the other occurrences of this string in the page? - Answers Press n repeatedly.
2.17 You don't know the name of the command that could do a job. What do you do? - Answers
Try using apropos with a keyword.
2.18 How do you find out the users who are idling from the man documentation of who? -
Answers The -u option provides information on idle time.
2.19 What is the difference between the mailbox and mbox? - Answers Unviewed mail is
deposited in the mailbox, but viewed mail moves to the mbox.
2.20 The passwd command didn't prompt for the old password. When do you think that can
happen? Where is the password stored? - Answers The root user is not prompted for the old
password. The password encryption is stored in /etc/shadow.
2.21 Can you change the system date with the date command? - Answers Not as an ordinary
user.
2.22 Enter the uname command without any arguments. What do you think the output
represents? - Answers The name of the operating system.
2.23 How will you record your login session in the file foo? - Answers Run script foo at the
beginning of the session.
2.24 Interpret the following output of who am i: romeo pts/10 Aug 1 07:56 (pc123.heavens.com)
- Answers The command is run by romeo who is logged in from a host named pc123 at the date
and time shown. romeo's terminal file is pts/10.
, 2.25 How do you determine the erase, kill and eof characters on your system? - Answers Run
stty -a and look for these three keywords in the output.
2.26 You suddenly find your keyboard is displaying uppercase letters even though your
[CapsLock] key is set properly. What should you try? - Answers stty sane
3.1 How long can a UNIX filename be? What characters can't be used in a filename? - Answers
255 characters. The / and NULL (ASCII value 0) can't be used as filename characters.
3.2 State two reasons for not having a filename beginning with a hyphen. - Answers (i) Difficult
to remove such a file. (ii) Many commands interpret such filenames as options.
3.3 Name the two types of ordinary files, and explain the difference between them. Provide three
examples of each type of file. - Answers Ordinary files can be grouped into text and binary. A
text file contains only printable characters whose ASCII values are less than 128. A binary file
can contain any character. C source programs and perl and shell scripts are text files.
Executable programs, image files, and music files are binary in nature.
3.4 Can the files note and Note coexist in the same directory? - Answers Yes, UNIX filenames
are case-sensitive.
3.5 Frame cd commands to change from (i) /var/spool/lp/admins to /var/spool/mail, (ii)
/usr/include/sys to /usr. - Answers (i) cd ../../mail (ii) cd ../.. or cd /usr
3.6 Switch to the root directory with cd, and then run cd .. followed by pwd. What do you notice?
- Answers The directory doesn't change.
3.7 Explain the significance of these two commands: ls .. ; ls -d ... - Answers ls .. displays all
filenames in the parent directory, but ls -d .. shows .. as the parent directory without displaying
its contents.
3.8 Can you execute any command in /sbin and /usr/sbin by using the absolute pathname? -
Answers Only some of them; most are meant for use by the superuser.
3.9 If the file /bin/echo exists on your system, are the commands echo and /bin/echo
equivalent? - Answers No, echo is also a shell builtin which is executed by default.
3.10 Look up the man pages of mkdir to find out the easiest way of creating this directory
structure: share/man/cat1. - Answers Use mkdir -p share/man/cat1, which creates all
intermediate directories
3.11 If mkdir test fails, what could be the possible reasons? - Answers (i) test already exists. (ii)
An ordinary file with the same name exists. (iii) The user doesn't have authorization to create a
file or directory. (iv) There's no space on disk.
3.12 How do you run ls to (i) mark directories and executables separately, (ii) also display
The ________ interacts with the hardware and the _________ interacts with the user - Answers
operating system, Shell
A program is synonymous with a process. True or false? - Answers False
Every character has a number associated with it. What is it called? - Answers the ASCII value
If you see a prompt like mailhost login:, what do you think mailhost represents? - Answers The
machine name
If the system echoes Login incorrect, does it mean that your user-id is incorrect? - Answers Not
necessarily, the password could be incorrect
Name the command you used in this chapter to display filenames. - Answers ls
Name the command you used in this chapter to display processes - Answers ps
Name the command you used in this chapter to display users. - Answers who
Who are the principal architects of the UNIX operating system? - Answers Ken Thompson and
Dennis Ritchie
Why did AT&T virtually give away UNIX to the world? - Answers Because it was prevented byt the
US government from selling computer software
Where did BSD UNIX originate? Name some features of UNIX that were first found in BSD UNIX -
Answers From the University of California, Berkeley.
vi editor, C shell, symbolic links, and TCP/IP
Which flavor of UNIX is available for free and runs on the PC? - Answers Linux
Identify the companies associated with Solaris UNIX. - Answers Sun
Identify the companies associated with AIX UNIX - Answers IBM
Identify the companies associated with Tru64 UNIX - Answers HP (Digital)
What does X/OPEN represent? Who owns the UNIX trademark today? - Answers a standards
body now merged with The Open Group which owns the UNIX trademark
Who are the two brains behind Linux? - Answers Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds
What is the distinctive characteristic about the GNU General Public License? - Answers Software
developers distributing products under this license must make the source code public.
,Why is UNIX more portable than other operating systems? - Answers Because it is written in C, a
high-level language (high-level lanuage can run without major modifications when moved to
another machine.
Can you divide UNIX into two major schools? To which school does Sun's UNIX belong? -
Answers Yes, System V (AT&T) and BSD (Berkeley): Sun is based on BSD but Solaris is based on
AT&T's SVR4
Why do UNIX tools perform simple jobs rather than complex ones? - Answers because complex
jobs can be completed by connecting a number of these simple ones.
What is the windowing system of UNIX known as? - Answers The X Window system
Name some interpretive languages available on UNIX systems. - Answers The shell, perl, tcl, and
python
Name three notable Linux flavors. - Answers Fedora, SuSE, Ubuntu
2.1 Enter a : and press [Enter]. Next run type :. What do you conclude? - Answers The : must be a
command that does nothing. The command type : indicates that the command is built into the
shell.
2.2 UNIX commands must be in lowercase and must not have extensions. True or false? -
Answers False, you can use uppercase and provide extensions to command filenames, although
convention follows the opposite
2.3 Name three UNIX commands whose names are more than five characters long. - Answers
printf, script, and passwd.
2.4 Find out whether these commands are internal or external: echo, date, pwd, and ls. -
Answers echo and pwd are internal commands; date and ls are external.
2.5 If two commands with the same filename exist in two directories in PATH, how can they be
executed? - Answers The command that occurs first in the PATH list would require no special
treatment. The other command needs to be used with a pathname.
2.6 How is the current directory indicated in PATH? - Answers With a dot.
2.7 How many options are there in this command? ls -lut chap01 note3 - Answers Three.
2.8 If you find yourself using options preceded by two hyphens (like --all), which flavor of UNIX
could you be using? - Answers Linux.
2.9 What is the name given to the command and its options and arguments? - Answers The
command line.
2.10 How do you find out the version number of your operating system? - Answers uname -r.
,2.11 Why are the directories /bin and /usr/bin usually found first in PATH? - Answers Because
the commonly used UNIX commands are located there.
2.12 What is whitespace? Explain the treatment the shell metes out to a command that contains
a lot of whitespace. - Answers Whitespace is a contiguous set of spaces, tabs, and newline
characters. The shell compresses multiple contiguous whitespace characters into a single
space.
2.13 Do you need to wait for a command to finish before entering the next one? - Answers No,
the buffer associated with the keyboard stores all input.
2.14 Why doesn't this command run in the way it is meant to? printf "Filename: %s\n", fname -
Answers fname is supposedly a variable, so it should be prefixed with a $.
2.15 What is a pager? Name the two standard pagers used by man. - Answers A pager is a
program that displays text on the screen a page at a time. more and less are two standard
pagers used by man.
2.16 You located the string crontab in a man page by searching with /crontab[Enter]. How do
you find out the other occurrences of this string in the page? - Answers Press n repeatedly.
2.17 You don't know the name of the command that could do a job. What do you do? - Answers
Try using apropos with a keyword.
2.18 How do you find out the users who are idling from the man documentation of who? -
Answers The -u option provides information on idle time.
2.19 What is the difference between the mailbox and mbox? - Answers Unviewed mail is
deposited in the mailbox, but viewed mail moves to the mbox.
2.20 The passwd command didn't prompt for the old password. When do you think that can
happen? Where is the password stored? - Answers The root user is not prompted for the old
password. The password encryption is stored in /etc/shadow.
2.21 Can you change the system date with the date command? - Answers Not as an ordinary
user.
2.22 Enter the uname command without any arguments. What do you think the output
represents? - Answers The name of the operating system.
2.23 How will you record your login session in the file foo? - Answers Run script foo at the
beginning of the session.
2.24 Interpret the following output of who am i: romeo pts/10 Aug 1 07:56 (pc123.heavens.com)
- Answers The command is run by romeo who is logged in from a host named pc123 at the date
and time shown. romeo's terminal file is pts/10.
, 2.25 How do you determine the erase, kill and eof characters on your system? - Answers Run
stty -a and look for these three keywords in the output.
2.26 You suddenly find your keyboard is displaying uppercase letters even though your
[CapsLock] key is set properly. What should you try? - Answers stty sane
3.1 How long can a UNIX filename be? What characters can't be used in a filename? - Answers
255 characters. The / and NULL (ASCII value 0) can't be used as filename characters.
3.2 State two reasons for not having a filename beginning with a hyphen. - Answers (i) Difficult
to remove such a file. (ii) Many commands interpret such filenames as options.
3.3 Name the two types of ordinary files, and explain the difference between them. Provide three
examples of each type of file. - Answers Ordinary files can be grouped into text and binary. A
text file contains only printable characters whose ASCII values are less than 128. A binary file
can contain any character. C source programs and perl and shell scripts are text files.
Executable programs, image files, and music files are binary in nature.
3.4 Can the files note and Note coexist in the same directory? - Answers Yes, UNIX filenames
are case-sensitive.
3.5 Frame cd commands to change from (i) /var/spool/lp/admins to /var/spool/mail, (ii)
/usr/include/sys to /usr. - Answers (i) cd ../../mail (ii) cd ../.. or cd /usr
3.6 Switch to the root directory with cd, and then run cd .. followed by pwd. What do you notice?
- Answers The directory doesn't change.
3.7 Explain the significance of these two commands: ls .. ; ls -d ... - Answers ls .. displays all
filenames in the parent directory, but ls -d .. shows .. as the parent directory without displaying
its contents.
3.8 Can you execute any command in /sbin and /usr/sbin by using the absolute pathname? -
Answers Only some of them; most are meant for use by the superuser.
3.9 If the file /bin/echo exists on your system, are the commands echo and /bin/echo
equivalent? - Answers No, echo is also a shell builtin which is executed by default.
3.10 Look up the man pages of mkdir to find out the easiest way of creating this directory
structure: share/man/cat1. - Answers Use mkdir -p share/man/cat1, which creates all
intermediate directories
3.11 If mkdir test fails, what could be the possible reasons? - Answers (i) test already exists. (ii)
An ordinary file with the same name exists. (iii) The user doesn't have authorization to create a
file or directory. (iv) There's no space on disk.
3.12 How do you run ls to (i) mark directories and executables separately, (ii) also display
