The File System

Question 1

What are the 2 types of files

Answer 1

1. Ordinary Files – people just call these files, but the most technical term is Directory Entries
2. Directory Files – or just Directories; AKA folders

Question 2

What do you call a folder within a folder and vice versa

Answer 2

A child or subdirectory; a parent

Question 3

What is the most typical max length of characters for a filename

Answer 3

255

Question 4

What is the max length for pathnames from the root

Answer 4

4096

Question 5

How is a file hidden

Answer 5

If the filename starts with . or ..

Question 6

What are the user preferences files called and where are they located

Answer 6

Startup Files; they are in your home directory hidden

Question 7

What is a pathname called when its from the root

Answer 7

Absolute Pathnames

Question 8

How do you reference the parent directory

Answer 8

../

Question 9

What is the /bin

Answer 9

Holds essential command binaries

Question 10

Where are the booting files

Answer 10

/boot

Question 11

Where are the files for devices

Answer 11

/dev

Question 12

What is the /etc

Answer 12

Machine-local system configuration files

Question 13

What are the 3 file permission user types

Answer 13

1. Owner
2. Group
3. Other

Question 14

What are the 3 file permissions

Answer 14

1. Read
2. Write
3. Execute

Question 15

What are the 2 types of arguments for permission changes

Answer 15

1. Numeric
2. Symbolic

Question 16

What is the syntax of numeric permission changes

Answer 16

UGO
Where U is for the permissions of the owner of the file
Where G is for the permissions of the group set for the file
Where O is for the permissions of everyone else
Where each letter is an octal number 0 - 7
Where each octal number is calculated as X + Y + Z
Where X represents READ access and is 4 if true or 0 if false
Where Y represents WRITE access and is 2 if true or 0 if false
Where Z represents EXECUTE access and is 1 if true or 0 if false

Question 17

What is the syntax of symbolic permission changes

Answer 17

USP
Where U is either ‘a’ for all users or 1 or more of the characters ‘u’ for the owner, ‘g’ for the group, and ‘o’ for everyone else
Where S is either ‘+’ to give permissions or ‘-‘ to take away permissions
Where P is 1 or more of the characters ‘r’ for read access, ‘w’ for write access, and ‘x’ for execute access

Question 18

What are the execute permissions for directories

Answer 18

Basically permission to enter into it to do stuff with the files inside it, but if you dont have read permissions then you cannot see whats inside of it (but having the execute permission allows you to do anything within your permissions of the files inside it, you would just need to know exact filepaths)

You can make sure a file exists in an execute-only directory by using “ls” with the filepath as an argument, but you cannot list all contents without an argument

Question 19

How can you manage permissions in a more advanced way

Answer 19

Using Access Control Lists (ACLs)

Question 20

What is a shortcut called

Answer 20

link

Question 21

What is the difference between hard and soft links

Answer 21

Hard links point specifically to a file, whereas soft links only contain a pathname (which means the actual file you end up to may differ)