File System Navigation

Question 1

The Linux filesystem is an “_____ ______” of directories and files, with a root directory called “/”

Answer 1

Inverted Tree

Question 2

Every process has a….?

Answer 2

Current working directory, often called its “cwd”.

Question 3

The pwd command ______ the bash shell’s cwd.

Answer 3

Reports

Question 4

The cd command ______ the bash shell’s cwd

Answer 4

Changes.

Question 5

Files can be referenced through either absoulte or…?

Answer 5

relative references.

Question 6

Red Hat Enterprise Linux X graphical enviroment uses what to navigate file systems…?

Answer 6

Nautilus

Question 7

Nautilus can be found by…?

Answer 7

• Double clicking the home icon found in the upper left-hand corner of the desktop.
• by selecitng the Applications: Systems tools: File browser menu item. (If you prefer this view of Nautilus you can change the settings found under the edit menu, and click behaviour and then always open in browser windows.)

Question 8

By default, Nautilus browser sidepane includes….?

Answer 8

a “hotlist” of commonly used directories.

Question 9

Typing _____ converts the location buttons to text entry.

Answer 9

CTRL+L

Question 10

Each Linux process (i.e. , program, command) is assigned a ______ ____when it runs.

Answer 10

Default directory. (This is used to complete the FQN for any file whose name is not specified as an FQN to start with. This has two effects, first, it allows the process to refer to files more simply, without using tiresome long names, Second it allows the process to operate more flexibly since its actions depend in part on the default directory. Change the default directory, and the action of the process is changed)

Question 11

The default directory is referred to as the….?

Answer 11

Current working directory, or cwd, for the process.

Question 12

A process is first assigned a cwd by…?

Answer 12

the parent process which starts it. (however, a process is not locked into a particular cwd the whole time it runs.)

Question 13

When needed, a process can ______ its cwd to another directory before continuing its work.

Answer 13

change.

Question 14

One of the processes found running on a Linux system is…?

Answer 14

the command shell.

Question 15

Command prompts are produced by the…?

Answer 15

command shell, the process which is responsible for reading and interpreting your commands.

Question 16

The default command shell for Red Hat systems is …?

Answer 16

the bash (Bourne-again shell) command.

Question 17

Bash keeps track of its …?

Answer 17

cwd while it runs. (Just like any other process)

Question 18

The cwd affects the…?

Answer 18

commands you type at the command prompt, and becomes their cwd as they run. (In essence, then, the cwd of the bash shell is your cwd, and can be thought of as where you are within the system)

Question 19

Keeping track of your bash cwd is important and can be done by…?

Answer 19

The command prompt itself shows the last directory of the path to the cwd. or viewing the complete (or absoulte path to the cwd by using pwd (print working directory) command)

Question 20

cd (change directory) command changes….?

Answer 20

the currrent directory from the command prompt.
Usage : cd [DIRECTORY]
if not specified the DIRECTORY defaults to the user’s home directory

Question 21

Because navigating through directories is so important, special abbreviations are available for referencing certain directories….

Answer 21

Symbol Meaning 
. The current working directory  
.. The parent directory  
~ The user's home directory  
- The previous working directory

Question 22

Absoulte references of the location of a file start with a (/) and give the…?

Answer 22

FQN of the file. (That is, the absolute reference names each branch of the filesystem directory, tree, starting from/, that must be traversed to reach the file. Regardless of where you are in the filesystem, an absolute reference unambiguously identifies a specfic resource.)

Question 23

Realtive reference to a file location does not…?

Answer 23

describe a path to the file starting at /, but rathe describes a path starting from the current directory. (For example, if the cwd is /home/alice, then a relative reference to song1.midi might be website/songs/song1.midi. This is a realtive reference because it does not start with /. This reference only names the directories that must be traversed starting from /home/alice, not starting from /. In order to be vaild, a relative reference must start but naming a directory (or file) in the cwd)

Question 24

All directories in Linux contain two special entries, the . and the .. directories, that represent the…?

Answer 24

current and parent directories, respectively. (This is a use of realtive reference)