Linux Commands

Question 1

Ping

Answer 1

Windows/Linux Command. This command allows the user to test point-to-point network connectivity. This command got its name from the sound sonar makes as it echolocates!

Question 2

IfConfig

Answer 2

Allows users to see network configuration. IFConfig is short for “Interface Configuration” as it allows you to configure a number of settings for a network interface, including finding IP and MAC Addresses

Question 3

IP

Answer 3

Returns an IP address, or allows a user to assign and configure IP Settings for a device. Short for Internet Protocol.

Question 4

fsck

Answer 4

Scans and Fixes hard drive. Short for “File System Consistency Check”. Fsck is sometimes playfully used as an expletive when referring to corrupted file systems.

Question 5

traceroute

Answer 5

Identifies network route. Used as a diagnostic tool, this command measures the paths of packets across an IP network

Question 6

CD

Answer 6

Windows and Linux Command. Short for “Change Directory”. Shell command used to change current working directory

Question 7

Mkdir

Answer 7

Make Directory. Allows user to create a new working directory.

Question 8

rmdir

Answer 8

Delete directory. Short for “Remove directory”, allows user to delete a specified directory.

Question 9

man

Answer 9

Help. Short for “manual”, The man command originally directed users to a small collection of pages from the published user’s manual. Now includes more extensive documentation.

Question 10

nano “file name”

Answer 10

Make file. In the late 90s, developer Chris Allegreta was trying to create an alternative to a text editor software called Pico. The name Nano was chosen because ‘nano’ is a scientific measurement 1000 times larger than ‘pico’. Typing nano and then a file name creates a new file of that name

Question 11

ls

Answer 11

Lists files in a directory. Short for the word ‘list’, it can be invoked without argument to list all files in the current working directory.

Question 12

cp-R

Answer 12

Copies directory. Short for “Copy-Recursive” this command allows the user to copy entire directories to other directories.

Question 13

clear

Answer 13

Clear screen. This clears all previous text from the screen and puts the command line back at the top of the computer terminal.

Question 14

ps

Answer 14

See running programs. Short for “Process status” this command lists all currently running processes.

Question 15

cp

Answer 15

Short for “copy”, this command copies files from a source to a destination.

Question 16

mv

Answer 16

Moves files or directories. Short for “Move” this allows you to move files from one location to another.

Question 17

rm

Answer 17

Removes files

Question 18

pwd

Answer 18

Shows name of current working directory. Short for “Print Working Directory” this command prints the name of whatever the current directory is.

Question 19

passwd

Answer 19

Password change- not to be confused with pwd, which stands for “print working directory” this command is short for password and allows the user to edit their password in terminal.

Question 20

kill

Answer 20

End process. By default, this command sends the ‘termination signal’ to a process requesting that it exit.

Question 21

chmod

Answer 21

Allows user to change the permissions of files. Short for “Change mode”, it allows the user to alter the RWX access permissions for files and directories

Question 22

sudo

Answer 22

Grants user root access without changing their profile. Short for “Superuser do” this command allows users to run programs with the permissions of another user, by default the superuser. Sudo requires the current user’s password to access

Question 23

Shutdown

Answer 23

Halts and reboots the Operating System. By default this command will initiate a shutdown one minute from the time the command it is entered, and sends a message warning all users on the system of the shutdown. By specifying a time, users can also schedule a shutdown

Question 24

dd

Answer 24

Used to copy files and partitions; used to create temporary swap files. Short for “data definition”. dd can be used to backup boot sector on a hard drive or to convert data as it is copied. Because of its ability to wipe a drive, it has also been called “Disk Destroyer”

Question 25

su

Answer 25

Superuser. This allows a user to run a command as another user. Unlike sudo, this requires the user to enter the password of the root access account as opposed to their own.

Question 26

iwconfig

Answer 26

Allows users to set and view wireless settings. Similar to IPconfig, but uses IW to refer to the fact that it deals with Wireless Interfaces.

Question 27

grep

Answer 27

Complex search command. Stands for “Globally search for a Regular Expression and Print matching lines”. This command searches plain text data sets for lines that match a regular expression.

Question 28

vim

Answer 28

Opens a text editor. VIM is short for “Vi Improved”. An abbreviation of “Visual”, Vi was a Unix text editor developed in 1976. VIM is the improved text editor used in most linux distributions.

Question 29

apt-get

Answer 29

Installs and Manages software on Debian based Linux Distros. short for “Advanced Packaging Tool”, apt-get retrieves packages and information from authenticated sources for installation, upgrade, or removal.

Question 30

chown

Answer 30

Allows user to switch both the owner and group of files. Short for “Change owner”.