Linux Bash Online Test

The Linux Bash Online Test uses scenario-based MCQs to evaluate candidates on their understanding of the Linux command-line interface (CLI) and Bash shell scripting. The test assesses candidates on their knowledge of basic and advanced Bash commands, such as file management, text processing, and network utilities, as well as their ability to write and execute Bash scripts. It evaluates their familiarity with Linux system administration tasks, such as user and group management, process management, and system monitoring, and their ability to troubleshoot common Linux issues using CLI.

Covered skills:

Linux commands
Bash scripting
File system management
Process management
Shell scripting
Networking and security
Regular expressions
Text processing
System administration
Environment variables

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About the Linux Bash Test

The Linux Bash Online Test helps recruiters and hiring managers identify qualified candidates from a pool of resumes, and helps in taking objective hiring decisions. It reduces the administrative overhead of interviewing too many candidates and saves time by filtering out unqualified candidates at the first step of the hiring process.

The test screens for the following skills that hiring managers look for in candidates:

Able to navigate and manipulate the Linux file system efficiently
Proficient in writing and executing Bash scripts for automation
Capable of managing processes and analyzing system performance
Skilled in administering system resources and user accounts
Adept at utilizing Linux commands effectively for various tasks
Experienced in networking concepts and implementing security measures
Proficient in using regular expressions for pattern matching and data manipulation
Skilled in text processing and file manipulation using command-line tools
Capable of managing and troubleshooting system configurations
Knowledgeable in working with environment variables and managing system variables

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Non-googleable questions

We have a very high focus on the quality of questions that test for on-the-job skills. Every question is non-googleable and we have a very high bar for the level of subject matter experts we onboard to create these questions. We have crawlers to check if any of the questions are leaked online. If/ when a question gets leaked, we get an alert. We change the question for you & let you know.

How we design questions

These are just a small sample from our library of 15,000+ questions. The actual questions on this Online Linux Bash Test will be non-googleable.

🧐 Question
Medium Debugging Issues Environment Variables Debugging System Administration Command Line Interface	Solve
You are working on a Linux system and have recently installed a new program named myprogram. The executable is located in /opt/myprogram/bin/. You want to be able to run this program from any directory in your shell without specifying the full path. You executed the following command: export PATH="/opt/myprogram/bin" However, when you try to run the program using myprogram, you get the following error message: -bash: myprogram: command not found Which of the following commands can fix this issue and allow you to run the program? A: export PATH=$PATH:/opt/myprogram/bin/ B: export PATH="/opt/myprogram:$PATH" C: export PATH="/opt/myprogram/bin:$PATH" D: ln -s /opt/myprogram/bin/myprogram /usr/local/bin/myprogram
Easy File Structure and Navigation Files Basic Commands File System Management Directory Structure Manipulation	Solve
Consider the following directory structure: You start at /home/user and execute the following commands: What will be the resulting directory structure?
Medium Fork mellow yellow	Solve
How many times will the following code will print "Mellow Yellow"?
Medium Remote server connection SSH Ssh Port Forwarding	Solve
Our software engineering intern, Wu is looking to use port 4545 on localhost to connect to a remote server called woot.bananas.com on port 80. Which command would you recommend for this?
Easy Commands Unix Commands String Manipulation	Solve
Which of the following unix commands change the case of first three lines of file “classified” from lowercase to uppercase
Easy Expressions	Solve
What does this shell script output?
Easy Loops Conditional Logic Looping	Solve
What are fourth and sixth lines output by this script:

	🧐 Question	🔧 Skill
	Medium Debugging Issues Environment Variables Debugging System Administration Command Line Interface	2 mins Linux	Solve
You are working on a Linux system and have recently installed a new program named myprogram. The executable is located in /opt/myprogram/bin/. You want to be able to run this program from any directory in your shell without specifying the full path. You executed the following command: export PATH="/opt/myprogram/bin" However, when you try to run the program using myprogram, you get the following error message: -bash: myprogram: command not found Which of the following commands can fix this issue and allow you to run the program? A: export PATH=$PATH:/opt/myprogram/bin/ B: export PATH="/opt/myprogram:$PATH" C: export PATH="/opt/myprogram/bin:$PATH" D: ln -s /opt/myprogram/bin/myprogram /usr/local/bin/myprogram
	Easy File Structure and Navigation Files Basic Commands File System Management Directory Structure Manipulation	2 mins Linux	Solve
Consider the following directory structure: You start at /home/user and execute the following commands: What will be the resulting directory structure?
	Medium Fork mellow yellow	2 mins Linux	Solve
How many times will the following code will print "Mellow Yellow"?
	Medium Remote server connection SSH Ssh Port Forwarding	2 mins Linux	Solve
Our software engineering intern, Wu is looking to use port 4545 on localhost to connect to a remote server called woot.bananas.com on port 80. Which command would you recommend for this?
	Easy Commands Unix Commands String Manipulation	2 mins Shell Scripting	Solve
Which of the following unix commands change the case of first three lines of file “classified” from lowercase to uppercase
	Easy Expressions	2 mins Shell Scripting	Solve
What does this shell script output?
	Easy Loops Conditional Logic Looping	2 mins Shell Scripting	Solve
What are fourth and sixth lines output by this script:

	🧐 Question	🔧 Skill	💪 Difficulty	⌛ Time
	Debugging Issues Environment Variables Debugging System Administration Command Line Interface	Linux	Medium	2 mins	Solve
You are working on a Linux system and have recently installed a new program named myprogram. The executable is located in /opt/myprogram/bin/. You want to be able to run this program from any directory in your shell without specifying the full path. You executed the following command: export PATH="/opt/myprogram/bin" However, when you try to run the program using myprogram, you get the following error message: -bash: myprogram: command not found Which of the following commands can fix this issue and allow you to run the program? A: export PATH=$PATH:/opt/myprogram/bin/ B: export PATH="/opt/myprogram:$PATH" C: export PATH="/opt/myprogram/bin:$PATH" D: ln -s /opt/myprogram/bin/myprogram /usr/local/bin/myprogram
	File Structure and Navigation Files Basic Commands File System Management Directory Structure Manipulation	Linux	Easy	2 mins	Solve
Consider the following directory structure: You start at /home/user and execute the following commands: What will be the resulting directory structure?
	Fork mellow yellow	Linux	Medium	2 mins	Solve
How many times will the following code will print "Mellow Yellow"?
	Remote server connection SSH Ssh Port Forwarding	Linux	Medium	2 mins	Solve
Our software engineering intern, Wu is looking to use port 4545 on localhost to connect to a remote server called woot.bananas.com on port 80. Which command would you recommend for this?
	Commands Unix Commands String Manipulation	Shell Scripting	Easy	2 mins	Solve
Which of the following unix commands change the case of first three lines of file “classified” from lowercase to uppercase
	Expressions	Shell Scripting	Easy	2 mins	Solve
What does this shell script output?
	Loops Conditional Logic Looping	Shell Scripting	Easy	2 mins	Solve
What are fourth and sixth lines output by this script:

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Why you should use Pre-employment Linux Bash Online Test?

The Online Linux Bash Test makes use of scenario-based questions to test for on-the-job skills as opposed to theoretical knowledge, ensuring that candidates who do well on this screening test have the relavant skills. The questions are designed to covered following on-the-job aspects:

Demonstrating strong knowledge of Linux commands and their usage
Utilizing bash scripting to automate tasks and improve efficiency
Efficiently managing the file system and organizing files
Understanding process management and effectively monitoring system resources
Implementing shell scripting to solve complex problems
Demonstrating knowledge of networking principles and securing network connections
Utilizing regular expressions for text pattern matching and manipulation
Effectively processing and manipulating text data
Performing system administration tasks and troubleshooting issues
Utilizing environment variables to configure system behavior

Once the test is sent to a candidate, the candidate receives a link in email to take the test. For each candidate, you will receive a detailed report with skills breakdown and benchmarks to shortlist the top candidates from your pool.

What topics are covered in the Linux Bash Online Test?

Linux commands: Linux commands refer to the set of instructions and utilities that are used to interact with the Linux operating system. It is important to measure this skill in the test as a good understanding of Linux commands is fundamental for effectively working with the Linux environment and performing various tasks.

Bash scripting: Bash scripting involves writing and executing scripts using the Bash (Bourne Again SHell) programming language. This skill should be measured in the test as it is essential for automating repetitive tasks, writing custom scripts, and enhancing productivity in Linux system administration and automation.

File system management: File system management entails working with files and directories, organizing data, setting permissions, and managing storage in a Linux operating system. Evaluating this skill is crucial as it reflects the candidate's ability to efficiently navigate, manipulate, and maintain the file system, which is a fundamental aspect of Linux administration and operational tasks.

Process management: Process management involves monitoring, controlling, and managing the execution of running programs or processes in a Linux environment. Measuring this skill in the test is important as it demonstrates the candidate's proficiency in handling processes, managing system resources, troubleshooting issues, and optimizing system performance.

Shell scripting: Shell scripting refers to writing scripts or programs using shell languages (such as Bash) to automate tasks and enhance the functionality of the command-line interface. This skill should be assessed as it determines the candidate's ability to create reliable and efficient scripts, enhance productivity, and automate complex tasks in Linux system administration and software development.

Networking and security: Networking and security in the context of the test involve knowledge and understanding of Linux networking concepts, configuring network settings, securing network communications, and implementing security measures. Evaluating this skill is important as it reflects the candidate's proficiency in networking administration, network troubleshooting, and maintaining a secure Linux environment.

Regular expressions: Regular expressions, also known as regex, are a powerful tool for searching and manipulating patterns of text data. Assessing this skill is important as it shows the candidate's ability to efficiently work with advanced text search and manipulation techniques, which are frequently utilized in tasks like log analysis, data extraction, and text processing in a Linux environment.

Text processing: Text processing involves performing operations on textual data, such as filtering, searching, modifying, and analyzing information. Measuring this skill is crucial as it reflects the candidate's proficiency in utilizing various text processing utilities, commands, and scripting techniques to handle large amounts of data and extract meaningful insights or perform specific operations in a Linux environment.

System administration: System administration encompasses managing, configuring, and maintaining the overall operation and health of a Linux system. Evaluating this skill is important as it signifies the candidate's proficiency in tasks like system installation, user management, package management, monitoring, troubleshooting, and overall system performance optimization in a Linux environment.

Environment variables: Environment variables are dynamic values that can affect the behavior and configuration of the operating system or applications. This skill should be measured in the test as it reflects the candidate's understanding of how environment variables are utilized, configured, and customized in a Linux environment to control system behavior, define paths, set preferences, and enhance overall system functionality.

Full list of covered topics

The actual topics of the questions in the final test will depend on your job description and requirements. However, here's a list of topics you can expect the questions for Online Linux Bash Test to be based on.

Linux file system

Bash scripting

Process management

System administration

Networking

Security

Regular expressions

Text processing

Command-line tools

Environment variables

Permissions and ownership

File and directory manipulation

Input/output redirection

Piping and filters

Shell variables and parameters

Conditional statements

Loops

Functions

Arrays

String manipulation

Process control

System monitoring and troubleshooting

Network configuration

Firewall and security configurations

User and group management

Backup and restore

Package management

File compression and archiving

Remote access and file transfer

Job control

Regular expression syntax

Pattern matching

Substitution and extraction

Anchoring and boundaries

Character classes

Quantifiers

Backreferences

Text search and manipulation with sed

Text search and manipulation with awk

Text search and manipulation with grep

Text search and manipulation with cut

Text search and manipulation with sort

Text search and manipulation with uniq

Text search and manipulation with wc

Text search and manipulation with head

Text search and manipulation with tail

Environment variables configuration

Environment variables expansion

Environment variables substitution

System variables management

Finding and using Linux documentation

Linux file permissions

User and group permissions

Symbolic and octal notation

Changing file permissions

Changing file ownership

Linux file system hierarchy

Linux system directories

File system navigation

File system manipulation

Listing and searching files and directories

File and directory creation and deletion

File and directory renaming and copying

File and directory linking and archiving

File and directory permissions and properties

File and directory content preview

Input/output redirection with stdin, stdout, and stderr

Piping and filtering with | and >

Command substitution with $() and backticks

Customizing shell prompt and environment

Script execution and shell initialization

Task scheduling with cron

Creating and executing scripts

Enabling script execution permissions

Debugging and troubleshooting scripts

Generating and using random numbers

Working with arithmetic operations

Looping and conditionals in scripts

Passing arguments to scripts

Using command-line arguments

Reading and writing files in scripts

Working with command output in scripts

Interacting with users in scripts

Handling signals and interrupts in scripts

Creating and manipulating arrays

Working with strings in scripts

Extracting and formatting dates and times

Basic process control with start, stop, restart, and status

Managing system resources and service dependencies

Monitoring and analyzing process performance

Killing and terminating processes

Debugging and troubleshooting processes

Managing network interfaces and IP addresses

Configuring DNS and DHCP

Keeping network connections secure

Monitoring network traffic and performance

Troubleshooting network connectivity issues

Securing system with firewall rules

Configuring VPN and SSH access

Setting up user accounts and user groups

Managing user permissions and access controls

Implementing password policies and authentication methods

Creating and managing backups

Restoring files and directories

Scheduling automated backups

Installing and updating software packages

Managing software repositories

Configuring package installation and updates

Compressing and extracting files and directories

Working with tar, gzip, and zip

Transferring files between systems

Using scp and sftp commands

Configuring remote access with SSH

Managing remote shells and file transfer

Background and foreground jobs

Managing job queues and priorities

Monitoring and controlling running jobs

What roles can I use the Linux Bash Online Test for?

Linux System Administrator
Bash Programmer
DevOps Engineer
IT Support Specialist
Network Administrator
Cybersecurity Analyst
Cloud Engineer

How is the Linux Bash Online Test customized for senior candidates?

For intermediate/ experienced candidates, we customize the assessment questions to include advanced topics and increase the difficulty level of the questions. This might include adding questions on topics like

Developing expertise in Linux command line tools and utilities
Implementing advanced shell scripting techniques
Utilizing system monitoring and performance analysis tools
Managing permissions and access control for files and directories
Configuring and securing network services
Implementing backup and recovery strategies
Understanding and applying advanced text processing techniques
Performing system maintenance tasks and optimizing system performance
Demonstrating knowledge of virtualization and containerization technologies
Implementing security measures to protect against unauthorized access
Managing user accounts and authentication mechanisms

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Have questions about the Linux Bash Hiring Test?

What is the Online Linux Bash Test?

The Online Linux Bash Test is designed to evaluate candidates' proficiency in Linux commands and Bash scripting. It's used by recruiters and employers to assess these technical skills in their prospective hires.

Can I combine Linux Bash Test with Docker questions?

Yes, recruiters can request a single custom test featuring both Linux Bash and Docker questions. Check out our Docker Test for more details on assessing Docker skills.

What skills are covered in the Online Linux Bash Test?

The test assesses Linux commands, Bash scripting, file system management, process management, shell scripting, networking and security, regular expressions, text processing, system administration, and environment variables.

How to use the Online Linux Bash Test in my hiring process?

Use our assessment software as a pre-screening tool early in your recruitment process. Add a link to the test in your job post or invite candidates via email. This helps identify skilled candidates quickly.

Can I test Bash scripting and Python together in a test?

Yes, you can. We offer specialized combination tests like the Python & Linux Test to assess both Bash scripting and Python skills efficiently.

What are the main Linux-related tests?

Besides the Online Linux Bash Test, we offer the AWS DevOps Test, Azure DevOps Test, and Linux System Administrator Test.

Can I combine multiple skills into one custom assessment?

Yes, absolutely. Custom assessments are set up based on your job description, and will include questions on all must-have skills you specify. Here's a quick guide on how you can request a custom test.

Do you have any anti-cheating or proctoring features in place?

We have the following anti-cheating features in place:

Non-googleable questions
IP proctoring
Screen proctoring
Web proctoring
Webcam proctoring
Plagiarism detection
Secure browser
Copy paste protection

Read more about the proctoring features.

How do I interpret test scores?

The primary thing to keep in mind is that an assessment is an elimination tool, not a selection tool. A skills assessment is optimized to help you eliminate candidates who are not technically qualified for the role, it is not optimized to help you find the best candidate for the role. So the ideal way to use an assessment is to decide a threshold score (typically 55%, we help you benchmark) and invite all candidates who score above the threshold for the next rounds of interview.

What experience level can I use this test for?

Each Adaface assessment is customized to your job description/ ideal candidate persona (our subject matter experts will pick the right questions for your assessment from our library of 10000+ questions). This assessment can be customized for any experience level.

Does every candidate get the same questions?

Yes, it makes it much easier for you to compare candidates. Options for MCQ questions and the order of questions are randomized. We have anti-cheating/ proctoring features in place. In our enterprise plan, we also have the option to create multiple versions of the same assessment with questions of similar difficulty levels.

I'm a candidate. Can I try a practice test?

No. Unfortunately, we do not support practice tests at the moment. However, you can use our sample questions for practice.

What is the cost of using this test?

You can check out our pricing plans.

Can I get a free trial?

Yes, you can sign up for free and preview this test.

I just moved to a paid plan. How can I request a custom assessment?

Here is a quick guide on how to request a custom assessment on Adaface.

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Along with scorecards that report the performance of the candidate in detail, you also receive a comparative analysis against the company average and industry standards.

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