Linux Interview Questions

1. What is Linux?

Linux is an Open-Source Operating System based on Unix. Linux was first introduced by Linus Torvalds. The
main purpose of Linux was to provide free and low-cost Operating System for users who could not afford
Operating Systems like Windows or iOS or Unix.

2. What is the difference between Linux and Unix?

The main differences between Linux and UNIX are as follows:

Parameter Linux Unix

Both free distributions and paid distributions are Different levels of UNIX have a
Price
available. different cost structure

Mainly Internet Server, Workstations,

Target User Everyone (Home user, Developer, etc.)
Mainframes.

Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, Jfs, ReiserFS, Xfs, Btrfs,

File System Support jfs, gpfs, hfs, hfs+, ufs, xfs, zfs,vxfs.
FAT, FAT32, NTFS.

GUI KDE and Gnome Common Desktop Environment

Viruses listed 60-100 80-120

Bug Fix Speed Faster because Linux is Community driven Slow

Portability Yes No

Ubuntu, Fedora, Red Hat, Kali Linux, Debian,

Examples OS X, Solaris, All Linux
Archlinux, Android, etc.

Linux vs. Unix – Linux Interview Questions

3. What is Linux Kernel? Is it legal to edit Linux Kernel?

Linux kernel refers to the low-level system software. It is used to manage resources and provide an interface
for user interaction.

Yes, it is legal to edit Linux Kernel. Linux is released under the General Public License (General Public
License). Any project released under GPL can be modified and edited by the end users.

4. What is LILO?

LILO stands for LInux LOader. LILO is a Linux Boot Loader that loads Linux Operating System into the main
memory to begin execution. Most of the computers come with boot loaders for certain versions of Windows or
Mac OS. So, when you want to use Linux OS, you need to install a special boot loader for it. LILO is one such
boot loader.

When the computer is started, BIOS conducts some initial tests and transfers control to the Master Boot
Record. From here, LILO loads the Linux OS and starts it.

The advantage of using LILO is that it allows fast boot of Linux OS.

5. What are the basic components of Linux?

The basic components of Linux are:

 Kernel: It is the core component of the Operating System that manages operations and hardware.
 Shell: Shell is a Linux interpreter which is used to execute commands.
 GUI: GUI stands for Graphical User Interface which is another way for a user to interact with the
system. But unlike CLI, GUI consists of Images, Buttons, TextBoxes for interaction.
 System Utilities: These are the software functions that allows the user to manage the computer.
 Application Programs: Software programs or set of functions designed to accomplish a specific task.

6. Which are the Shells used in Linux?

The most common Shells used in Linux are

 bash: Bourne Again Shell is the default for most of the Linux distributions
 ksh: Korn Shell is a high-level programming language shell
 csh: C Shell follows C like syntax and provides spelling correction and Job Control
 zsh: Z Shell provides some unique features such as filename generation, startup files, login/logout
watching, closing comments etc.
 fish: Friendly Interactive Shell provides some special features like web-based configuration, auto-
suggestions, fully scriptable with clean scripts

7. What is Swap Space?

Swap Space is the additional spaced used by Linux that temporarily holds concurrently running programs
when the RAM does not have enough space to hold the programs. When you run a program, it resides on the
RAM so that the processor can fetch data quickly. Suppose you are running more programs than the RAM can
hold, then these running programs are stored in the Swap Space. The processor will now look for data in the
RAM and the Swap Space.

Swap Space is used as an extension of RAM by Linux.

8. What command would you use to check how much memory is being used
by Linux?

You can use any of the following commands:

 free -m
 vmstat
 top
 htop

9. Explain file permission in Linux.

There are 3 kinds of permission in Linux:

1. Read: Allows a user to open and read the file

2. Write: Allows a user to open and modify the file
3. Execute: Allows a user to run the file.

You can change the permission of a file or a directory using the chmodcommand. There are two modes of using
the chmod command:

1. Symbolic mode
2. Absolute mode

Symbolic mode

The general syntax to change permission using Symbolic mode is as follows:

$ chmod <target>(+/-/=)<permission> <filename>

where <permissions> can be r: read; w: write; x: execute.

<target> can be u : user; g: group; o: other; a: all

'+' is used for adding permission

'-' is used for removing permission

'=' is used for setting the permission

For example, if you want to set the permission such that the user can read, write, and execute it and
members of your group can read and execute it, and others may only read it.

Then the command for this will be:

$ chmod u=rwx,g=rx,o=r filename

Absolute mode

The general syntax to change permission using Absolute mode is as follows:

$ chmod <permission> filename

The Absolute mode follows octal representation. The leftmost digit is for the user, the middle digit is for the
user group and the rightmost digit is for all.

Below is the table that explains the meaning of the digits that can be used and their effect.

0 No permission –––
1 Execute permission ––x
2 Write permission –w–
3 Execute and write permission: 1 (execute) + 2 (write) = 3 – wx
4 Read permission r––
5 Read and execute permission: 4 (read) + 1 (execute) = 5 r–x
6 Read and write permission: 4 (read) + 2 (write) = 6 rw –
7 All permissions: 4 (read) + 2 (write) + 1 (execute) = 7 rwx
For example, if you want to set the permission such that the user can read, write, and execute it and
members of your group can read and execute it, and others may only read it.

Then the command for this will be:

$ chmod 754 filename

10. What are inode and process id?

inode is the unique name given by the operating system to each file. Similarly, process id is the unique id
given to each process.

11. Which are the Linux Directory Commands?

There are 5 main Directory Commands in Linux:

pwd: Displays the path of the present working directory.

Syntax: $ pwd

ls: Lists all the files and directories in the present working directory.

Syntax: $ ls

cd: Used to change the present working directory.

Syntax: $ cd <path to new directory>

mkdir: Creates a new directory

Syntax: $ mkdir <name (and path if required) of new directory>

rmdir: Deletes a directory

Syntax: $ rmdir <name (and path if required) of directory>

12. What is Virtual Desktop?

Virtual Desktop is a feature that allows users to use the desktop beyond the physical limits of the screen.
Basically, Virtual Desktop creates a virtual screen to expand the limitation of the normal screen.

There are two ways Virtual Desktop can be implemented:

1. Switching Desktops
2. Oversized Desktops

Switching Desktops

In the case of Switching Desktops, you can create discrete virtual desktops to run programs. Here, each
virtual desktop will behave as an individual desktop and the programs running on each of these desktops is
accessible only to the users who are using that particular desktop.

Oversized Desktops

Oversized Desktops do not offer a discrete virtual desktop but it allows the user to pan and scroll around the
desktop that is larger in size than the physical screen.

13. Which are the different modes of vi editor?

There are 3 modes of vi editor:

1. Regular/Command mode: Lets you view the content

2. Insertion/edit mode: Lets you delete or insert content
3. Replacement mode: Lets you overwrite content

14. Explain grep command.

Grep stands for Global Regular Expression Print. The grep command is used to search for a text in a file
by pattern matching based on regular expression.

Syntax: grep [options] pattern [files]

Example:

$ grep -c "linux" interview.txt

This command will print the count of the word “linux” in the “interview.txt” file.

15. Explain the ‘ls’ command in Linux

The ls command is used to list the files in a specified directory. The general syntax is:

$ ls <options> <directory>

For example, if you want to list all the files in the Example directory, then the command will be as follows:

$ ls Example/
There are different options that can be used with the ls command. These options give additional information
about the file/ folder. For example:

-l lists long format (shows the permissions of the file)

-a lists all files including hidden files
-i lists files with their inode number
-s lists files with their size
-S lists files with their size and sorts the list by file size
-t sorts the listed files by time and date
16. Explain the redirection operator.

The redirection operator is used to redirect the output of a particular command as an input to another
command or file.

There are two ways of using this:

‘>’ overwrites the existing content of the file or creates a new file.

‘>>’ appends the new content to the end of the file or creates a new file.

Suppose the content of the file is as follows:

Now when you use the ‘>’ redirection operator, the contents of the file are overwritten.

and when you use ‘>>’, the contents are appended:

17. Why is the tar command used?

The tar command is used to extract or create an archived file.

Suppose you want to extract all the files from the archive named sample.tar.gz, then the command will be:

$ tar -xvzf sample.tar.gz

Suppose you want to create an archive of all the files stored in the path /home/linux/, then the command will
be:

$ tar -cvzf filename.tar.gz

where c: create archive, x: extract, v: verbose, f: file

18. What is the minimum number of disk partitions required to install Linux?

The minimum number of partitions required is 2.

One partition is used as the local file system where all the files are stored. This includes files of the OS, files
of applications and services, and files of the user. And the other partition is used as Swap Space which acts
as an extended memory for RAM.

19. How to copy a file in Linux?

You can use the cp command to copy a file in Linux. The general syntax is:

$ cp <source> <destination>

Suppose you want to copy a file named questions.txt from the

directory /new/linux to/linux/interview, then the command will be:

$ cp questions.txt /new/linux /linux/interview

20. How to terminate a running process in Linux?

Every process has a unique process id. To terminate the process, we first need to find the process id.
The ps command will list all the running processes along with the process id. And then we
use the kill command to terminate the process.

The command for listing down all the processes:

$ ps

Suppose the process id of the process you want to terminate is 3849, then you will have to terminate it like
this:

$ kill 3849

21. How to rename a file in Linux?

There is no specific command to rename a file in Linux. But you use the copy or move command to rename
the file.

Using the Move command

$ mv <oldname> <newname>

Using the Copy command

$ cp <oldname> <newname>

And then delete the old file.

$ rm <oldname>

22. How to write the output of a command to a file?

You can use the redirection operator (>) to do this.

Syntax: $ (command) > (filename)

23. How to see the list of mounted devices on Linux?

By running the following command:

$ mount -l

24. How to find where a file is stored in Linux?

You can use the locate command to find the path to the file.
Suppose you want to find the locations of a file name sample.txt, then your command would be:

$ locate sample.txt

25. How to find the difference in two configuration files?

You can use the diff command for this:

$ diff abc.conf xyz.conf

26. How would you create a text file without opening it?

The touch command can be used to create a text file without opening it. The touch command will create an
empty file. The syntax is as follows:

$ touch <filename>

Suppose you want to create a file named sample.txt, then the command would be:

$ touch sample.txt

27. How would you delete a directory in Linux?

There are two commands that can be used to delete a directory in Linux.

 rmdir

$ rmdir <directory name>

 rm -rf

$ rm -rf <directory name>

Note: The command rm -rf should be used carefully because it will delete all the data without any warnings.

28. How would you schedule a task in Linux?

There are two commands to schedule tasks in Linux: cron and at.

The cron command is used to repeatedly schedule a task at a specific time. The tasks are stored in acron file
and then executed using the cron command. The cron command reads the string from this file and
schedules the task. The syntax for the string to enter in the cron file is as follows:

<minute> <hour> <day> <month> <weekday> <command>

Suppose you want to run a command at 4 pm every Sunday, then the string would be:

0 16 * * 0 <command>

The at command is used to schedule a task only once at the specified time.

Suppose you want to shut down the system at 6 pm today, then the command for this would be:

$ echo "shutdown now" | at -m 18:00

29. Suppose you try to delete a file using the rm command and the deletion fails.
What could be the possible reason?

 The path specified to the file or the file name mentioned might be wrong
 The user trying to delete the file might not have permissions to delete the file.

30. How do you check if a particular service in running?

$ service <servicename> status

31. How do you check the status of all the services?

$ service --status-all

32. How do you start and stop a service?

To start:

$ service <servicename> start

To stop:

$ service <servicename> stop

33. Explain the free command.

This command is used to display the free, used, swap memory available in the system.

Typical free command output. The output is displayed in bytes.

$ free

34. Describe the root account.

The root account is like a systems administrator account and allows you full control of the system.
Here you can create and maintain user accounts, assigning different permissions for each
account. It is the default account every time you install Linux.
35. What is CLI?

CLI is short for Command Line Interface. This interface allows the user to type declarative
commands to instruct the computer to perform operations. CLI offers greater flexibility. However,
other users who are already accustomed to using GUI find it difficult to remember commands
including attributes that come with it.

36. What is GUI?

GUI, or Graphical User Interface, make use of images and icons that users click and manipulate
as a way of communicating with the computer. Instead of having to remember and type
commands, the use of graphical elements makes it easier to interact with the system, as well as
adding more attraction through images, icons, and colors.

37. What are the contents of /usr/local?

It contains locally installed files. This directory matters in environments where files are stored on
the network. Specifically, locally-installed files go to /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/lib, etc.). Another
application of this directory is that it is used for software packages installed from source, or
software not officially shipped with the distribution.

38. What is a kernel?

The kernel is the core of any operating system. Kernel acts as a middleman between computer hardware and operating
system and controls everything on a computer. It is the first program that is loaded when a system starts.

39. What does whoami do?

The whoami command is basically the concatenation of “Who”, “Am” and “I”. This command is used in both,Linux as
well as Windows to display the details of the login user or the owner of the currently running login session.

40. What is Samba? Why is it used?

Samba is software suite with open source. It runs on Linux OS and Unix/Linux based platforms. It is a reimplementation
of the Common Internet File System (CIFS) and the more central Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. It is the
standard Windows interoperability suite, which means that the software is able to communicate the programs of Linux to
the Windows clients just like a native application.

41. What is SSH? How to connect to a remote server via SSH?

SSH stands for Secure Shell, which is a protocol for securely logging onto remote systems. It is the most common and
simple way to access the remote Linux based servers. In order to do this, you must own a domain name and IP address.
42. What is Virtual Memory?
When the physical memory runs short, the computer, or rather the operating system makes use of both,hardware and
software to compensate for the shortage of physical memory. It transfers the data from RAM to the disk space.

43. What is the difference between Telnet and SSH?

SSH is basically a network protocol, which is used to remotely access and manage any device distantly. The chief
difference between SSH and Telnet is that SSH makes use of encryption, which implies that the entire data transmitted
over a network is secure from snooping. Telnet is not as secure though. Like Telnet, a user who wants to access a remote
device must install an SSH client.

44. State the difference between swap partition and a swap file?
The Linux Operating System uses reserved disk block in the hard drive to swap. This is known as Swap Partition as no
other files can be traced in the swap partition. In case of Windows OS, the swap space or partition is called swap file or
page file.
45. What is a zombie process?
A zombie process is also known as a defunct process. It is a process in the terminated state and has completed execution
via the exit system call but still has an entry in the table of processes.

46. What is SSH port forwarding?

SSH port forwarding creates a secure connection between a remote machine through which services can be relayed and
the local computer, which gives the commands. It is also called SSH tunneling and is used for transmission of
information, which does not necessarily require an encrypted protocol.

47. What does ps do?

The process status command or ps is used to provide information about the currently running status processes in the
system. This includes the PID (process identification number), which is unique to every process or task.