Linux+ Bash Scripting and Automation Questions and Answers

Question 1

A script has a variable defined as `FILENAME="report_final.docx"`. Which parameter expansion command will correctly remove the file extension, resulting in `report_final`?

Accepted Answer

echo "${FILENAME%.*}"

Answer

echo "${FILENAME#*.}"

Answer

echo "${FILENAME%%.*}"

Answer

echo "${FILENAME/docx/}"

Question 2

A system administrator wants a script to create a tar archive with the current date in `YYYY-MM-DD` format included in the filename. Which of the following commands correctly creates an archive named `archive-2026-03-18.tar.gz` (assuming the current date is March 18, 2026)?

Accepted Answer

tar -czf archive-$(date +%F).tar.gz /var/log/

Answer

tar -czf archive-`date +%F`.tar.gz /var/log/

Answer

tar -czf archive-(date +%F).tar.gz /var/log/

Answer

tar -czf "archive-date +%F.tar.gz" /var/log/

Question 3

A developer needs a script to process all PNG images in the current directory. Which of the following Bash `for` loops correctly iterates through all files ending with a `.png` extension?

Accepted Answer

for i in *.png; do echo "Found $i"; done

Answer

for i in $(ls *.png); do echo "Found $i"; done

Answer

for file in `*.png`; do echo "Found $file"; done

Answer

for i in *.png; echo "Found $i"; done

Question 4

An automation script needs to check if the directory `/srv/backups` exists before attempting to write a file to it. Which conditional statement correctly performs this check?

Accepted Answer

if [ -d "/srv/backups" ]; then echo "Exists"; fi

Answer

if [ -f "/srv/backups" ]; then echo "Exists"; fi

Answer

if test "/srv/backups"; then echo "Exists"; fi

Answer

if [ -e "/srv/backups" ] && [ ! -f "/srv/backups" ]; then echo "Exists"; fi

Question 5

A system administrator needs to schedule a maintenance script at `/opt/scripts/sync.sh` to run at 1:15 AM every Monday. Which of the following `crontab` entries is correct?

Accepted Answer

15 1 * * 1 /opt/scripts/sync.sh

Answer

1 15 * * mon /opt/scripts/sync.sh

Answer

* 1 15 * 1 /opt/scripts/sync.sh

Answer

15 1 * * 7 /opt/scripts/sync.sh

Question 6

Which of the following `sed` commands will find all occurrences of the string `api_key=SECRET` and replace them with `api_key=REDACTED` directly within the file `/var/log/app.log`?

Accepted Answer

sed -i 's/api_key=SECRET/api_key=REDACTED/g' /var/log/app.log

Answer

sed 's/api_key=SECRET/api_key=REDACTED/' /var/log/app.log

Answer

sed 's/api_key=SECRET/api_key=REDACTED/g' /var/log/app.log > /var/log/app.log

Answer

sed -i 's/api_key=SECRET/api_key=REDACTED/' /var/log/app.log