IT 244: Introduction to Linux/Unix
Answers to Midterm Exam - Odd Columns

  1. What do you call the directory directly above your current directory? 
    the parent directory
  2. By default, which account is the owner of a file or directory? 
    the account that created it
  3. Name the three types of access permissions. 
    read, write and execute
  4. Name the three categories of accounts which are used in assigning access permissions. 
    owner, group, everyone else
  5. What is the name of the account that can do ANYTHING on a Unix or Linux system? 
    root
  6. If you have read permission on a directory, what can you do in it? 
    run ls on the directory to list its contents
  7. If you have read permission on a directory, can you read the files in that directory? 
    no, you need read permission on each file
  8. What does the PATH shell variable contain? 
    the list of directories the shell must search to find the file to run a command
  9. What does a program do JUST BEFORE it stops running? 
    it sends an exit status to the shell
  10. If you wanted to run the executable script work.sh in your current directory without using bash, what would you type at the command line? 
    ./work.sh
  11. What is a process? 
    a running program
  12. What does an exit status of 0 mean? 
    it means that the program encountered no errors
  13. By default, where does Standard Input come from? 
    the keyboard
  14. By default, where does Standard Output go? 
    to the screen
  15. If you wanted to send the output of ls to the file dir_listing.txt, what would you enter at the command line? 
    ls  >  dir_listing.txt
  16. Look at the diagram on the last page.
    You are in the directory named django under projects.
    Write the ABSOLUTE pathname for the directory named hw under the it116 directory.
    You do not have to write a Unix command, I only want the pathname. 
    /courses/it/it116/hw
  17. Look at the diagram on the last page.
    You are in the directory named courses.
    Write the RELATIVE pathname for the directory named hw1 under the it244 directory.
    You do not have to write a Unix command, I only want the pathname. 
    it/it244/hw/hw1
  18. Look at the diagram on the last page.
    You are in the directory named hw under the it116 directory.
    Write the RELATIVE pathname for the root directory.
    You do not have to write a Unix command, I only want the pathname. 
    ../../../..
  19. Look at the diagram on the last page.
    You are in the directory named gh under the home directory .
    Write the RELATIVE pathname for the directory named it117 under the courses directory.
    You do not have to write a Unix command, I only want the pathname. 
    ../../courses/it
  20. What is the name of the only program that can create a process? 
    the kernel
  21. Write a command that will change the permissions on the file work.sh so that the owner can do anything with the file, the group can read and write it, and everyone else can only read the file.
    You MUST use the numeric format to specify the permissions. 
    chmod  764  work.sh
  22. Write a command that will change the permission on the directory dir1 so that the owner can do anything in the directory, the group can run ls and change the names of files in the directory, and everyone else can only run cd on the directory.
    You MUST use the numeric format to specify the permissions. 
    chmod  761  dir1
  23. Write a single command line entry that will find all lines in the file notes.txt that contain "goat" but not "shepard". 
    grep goat notes.txt | grep -v shepard
  24. Write a single command to copy the file memo.txt from your parent directory to your current directory. 
    cp  ../memo.txt  .
  25. Using REDIRECTION, create a duplicate of the file memo.txt in your current directory, called memo.bak, also in your current directory.
    DO NOT use the copy command. 
    cat memo.txt > memo.bak