Shell Scripting Advanced – Full Quiz

← Back to Quiz Home

---

This quiz contains 20 questions focused on Functions, regex, text processing, and advanced automation. These skills are required for building complex DevOps tools.

---

#

How do you define a function in Bash?

func() { ... }

function: func { ... }

def func():

func = { ... }

The standard syntax is func_name() { commands; }. Sometimes the function keyword is used: function func_name { commands; }.

#

How do you pass arguments to a function?

func(arg1, arg2)

func arg1 arg2

func[arg1, arg2]

func -> arg1 arg2

Arguments are passed separated by spaces, just like command-line arguments.

#

How do you access the first argument inside a function?

$arg1

$1

${args[0]}

$first

$1, $2, etc., refer to the positional parameters passed to the function.

#

How do you return an integer value from a function?

return 10

exit 10

output 10

echo 10

The return statement returns an exit status (0-255). To return data (strings), using echo is common.

#

Which command prints one column from a text file?

awk '{print $1}'

grep $1

sed print 1

cut column 1

awk is powerful for column-based processing. cut can also be used but uses slightly different syntax.

#

How do you replace "foo" with "bar" in a file using strict substitution?

grep s/foo/bar/g

sed 's/foo/bar/g'

awk s/foo/bar/

replace foo bar

sed 's/old/new/g' is the standard stream editor command for usage.

#

How do you find lines matching a pattern in a specific file?

find "pattern" file

grep "pattern" file

locate "pattern" file

match "pattern" file

grep searches for patterns in files.

#

How do you run a command in the background?

command --bg

command &

bg command

start command

Appending & to a command runs it in the background.

#

Which command keeps a process running after you log out?

keep

nohup

stay

persist

nohup (no hang up) runs a command immune to hangups, with output to a non-tty.

#

How do you schedule a script to run every minute?

using at

using crontab

using sched

using timer

crontab is the standard daemon for scheduling periodic tasks.

#

What does 2>&1 do?

Redirects stdout to stderr

Redirects stderr to stdout

Pipes both to a file

Discards output

It redirects file descriptor 2 (stderr) to file descriptor 1 (stdout).

#

How do you debug a script line-by-line?

bash -d

bash -x

bash --debug

bash -v

bash -x prints commands and their arguments as they are executed.

#

Which command allows you to parse JSON?

json_parse

jq

awk

sed

jq is a lightweight and flexible command-line JSON processor.

#

How do you create a temporary file securely?

touch /tmp/file

mktemp

tmpfile

create_temp

mktemp creates a temporary file or directory with a unique name.

#

What is the purpose of xargs?

Variable expansion

Build and execute command lines from standard input

Extended arguments

Exit arguments

xargs reads items from standard input and executes a command with them as arguments.

#

How do you declare a local variable in a function?

var name=val

local name=val

private name=val

my name=val

The local keyword makes the variable visible only within the function block.

#

Which regex character matches the start of a line?

$

^

.

*

^ matches the beginning of a line. $ matches the end.

#

Which tool is best for checking if a port is open?

ping

nc

grep

route

nc (netcat) is widely used for reading from and writing to network connections using TCP or UDP.

#

How do you check the exit status of the usage of grep if no match is found?

0

1

2

-1

grep returns 0 if a match is found, and 1 if no match is found.

#

How can you process command-line arguments using a loop?

while args

foreach arg

for arg in "$@"

loop args

"$@" expands to all command-line arguments as separate words.

Quiz Progress

0 / 0 questions answered (0%)

0 correct

Quiz Complete!

0%

Reset quiz

---

📚 Study Guides

• Shell Scripting Functions & Automation

---

📬 Weekly DevOps, Cloud & Gen AI quizzes & guides