UNIX Shell Programming Interview Questions You'll Most Likely Be Asked
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Vibrant PublishersUNIX Shell Programming Interview Questions You'll Most Likely Be Asked
Uploaded by
Vibrant PublishersUNIX Shell
Programming
Interview Questions
Review these typical interview questions and think about how you would
answer them. Read the answers listed; you will find best possible answers
along with strategies and suggestions.
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Chapter 1
C Shell – Beginner
1: What must you do before you are able to run your new script
for the first time by its name or with an alias?
Answer:
You must make it executable, that is to execute the command:
chmod +x scriptname
2: The following command is included in the .login script of a
user:
alias whois ´grep \! /etc/passwd´
What will be the output, when the user issues the following?
who is guru
Answer:
If there is a defined user account named "guru", or the string guru
is contained elsewhere in /etc/passwd file, then the output will be
the entry which contains the string "guru", otherwise, it will be an
empty line.
3: If the condition If (-r filename)fails (returns false), what are
the possible reasons?
Answer:
The possible reasons are:
a) filename is not readable by the owner of the process
b) filename does not exist
4: Which is the difference between the next two statements?
set var =99
@ var = 99
Answer:
Using the typical assignment form (set …), the value assigned in
var is the string 99. Using the @, the value is the integer 99.
5: Given the code snippet:
@n=5
while ($n)
# actions
...
end
What actions should be performed inside the loop, in order to
get out of this loop?
Answer:
Any command that changes the value of variable n, for it to
become 0 sometime. E.g., @ n—
6: What will the output of the following commands be? Explain.
set names =(Kathrin Chris Jacob)
shift names
echo $#names
Answer:
The output will be 2.
shift command gets rid of the first element of the array names. So,
the echo command will display 2 as the number of elements of the
array.
7: What does the command rehash do?
Answer:
Rehash recomputes the internal hash table for the PATH variable.
If the new command resides in a directory not listed in PATH, add
this directory to PATH, and then use rehash.
8: How could you ensure that a script will be run in csh?
Answer:
The first line of the script could be used to define the shell you
want to use, as follows:
#!/bin/csh
This is sufficient to run the script in csh.
9: Given that script1 is an executable C shell script situated in
directory /home/myhomedir/project1/data/dir1, use three ways to
run it, explaining the pros and cons.
Answer:
a) cd/home/myhomedir/project1/data/dir1/script1
(You should first cd to the directory path)
b) /home/myhomedir/project1/data/dir1/script1
(You should include the absolute directory path)
c) script1 (shortest form, but it works only if the directory path
is added to the PATH environment variable of the user)
10: What will be the value of the sixrem variable, after executing
this command?
@ sixrem = $data[2] % 6
Answer:
The expression divides the value of second element of the data
array by 6 and assigns the remainder of the division to the sixrem
variable.
11: Name two ways to obtain the length of a string, giving a
simple example for each one.
Answer:
The two ways to obtain the length of a string are:
a) Using the wc command:
set string = "any string"
@ ln = `echo $string | wc -c` -1
b) Using the awk function length:
set string = "any string"
set ln = `echo $string | awk '{print length($0)}'`
12: Create a script that displays a list of regular files from the
current directory.
Answer:
#!/bin/csh -f
foreach i (*)
if( -f $i ) then
print $i
endif
end
13: Describe in short, the word-completion feature of the tcsh
shell.
Answer:
If you want word completion to work, whether on commands or
filenames, you just need to type the beginning of the word and
press the Tab key. The Shell will substitute the unfinished word
with a complete one which is available in the input buffer and also
adds a “/” to its end if it’s a directory and a space if it’s a word.
The shell will check the buffer to identify whether the completed
word is a word or a command, variable or filename. The buffer
considers the first word in it and the words following {‘|’, ‘|&’, ‘;’,
‘&&’, ‘||’} as a command. If the word starts with a $ it’s a variable
and everything else is a filename. If there’s an empty line, it is
completed as a filename.
14: In tcsh, how are the remaining choices (if any) listed
whenever the word completion fails?
Answer:
The remaining choices (if any), are listed only if the shell variable
autolist is set.
15: In tcsh, how do you disable filename substitution?
Answer:
noglob shell variable can be set to disable the filename substitution
feature.
16: Compare the sched tcsh built-in command with the
UNIX/Linux at command.
Answer:
These commands are similar but not the same. sched command
runs directly from the shell, so it has access to shell variables and
settings at command can run a scheduled command at exactly the
specified time.
17: Schedule a prompt change at 10:55 as a reminder for an
oncoming event.
Answer:
sched 10:55 set prompt = 'It\'s time for the important meeting: >'
18: What is the impact of -f option in the first line of a csh script?
(#!/bin/csh
versus
#!/bin/csh -f)
Answer:
When you add the -f option to csh, the shell will skip loading the
startup files .cshrc and resources. It will also skip the hashing
process. The shell will load quicker because of that.
19: How can you start a job in the background, and then
terminate your login session, without terminating the
background job?
Answer:
We can start a job in the background and then terminate our login
session, without terminating the background job using "no
hangup" command, nohup:
nohup command > output_file &
20: Which is the difference between
echo c{1,4,2,5,1}
and
echo [c]{1,4,2,5,1}?
Answer:
The first echo will display c1 c4 c2 c5 c1, while the second displays
only c1.
21: Display the first and last arguments of a script, regardless of
the number of arguments, and without a loop.
Answer:
my_var3 = $#argv
echomy_var1: $argv[$1]
echomy_last_var: $argv[$my_var3]
22: How will you set the ‘search path’ in csv?
Answer:
Search path in csv can be set as follows:
a) setenv PATH“/myfolder1 /bin: /myfolder2 /myfile3”
b) using list
set path =( /myfolder1 /bin /myfolder2 /myfile3 )
23: Create a tar archive into /home/user1/myarch.tar, including
all files ending in .c, .h, .l, .y,.o and .cc and also the Makefile
from two directories, ~/dir1 and ~/dir2.
Answer:
tar cvf /home/user1/myarch.tar ~/{dir1,dir2}/{Makefile,*.{c,h,l,o,y,cc}}
or
tar cvf /home/user1/myarch.tar ~/dir1/Makefile ~/dir1/*.[chloy]
~/dir1/*.cc ~/dir2/Makefile ~/dir2/*.[chloy] ~/dir2/*.cc
24: Your script must be executed with exactly two arguments,
otherwise would be terminated. Write a code to implement
these checks.
Answer:
if ($#argv <> 2) then
echo "Usage: $0 arg1 arg2"
echo "You must give exactly two parameters"
exit 20
endif
25: Write a pipeline that reads from the j-th line up to the k-th
line of a text file, without using awk.
Answer:
set total = `cat textfile | wc -l`
set j = 10
set k = 18
@ count = $k - $j
head -$k textfile | tail -$count
