Interview-Shell Scripting

Shell Scripting Interview
Questions
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Contents
Shell Scripting Interview Questions for Freshers

1. What is Shell?
2. Why is a shell script needed?
3. Write some advantages of shell scripting.
4. Write some limitations of shell scripting.
5. Name the file in which shell programs are stored.
6. Name different types of shells available.
7. Write difference between Bourne Shell and C Shell.
8. What do you mean by Shell variable?
9. What are different types of variables mostly used in shell scripting?
10. Explain the term positional parameters.
11. What are control instructions?
12. How many types of control instructions are available in a shell?
13. Explain ways to create shortcuts in Linux.
14. How to check whether a link is a hard one or a so link?
15. Write difference between Hard link and So Link.
16. What do you mean by GUI Scripting?
17. What is the shebang line in shell scripting?
18. What is a file system? Write down the four core components of a Linux file
system.
19. Name the alternative command for echo.
20. Explain the way you can connect to a database server.
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Shell Scripting Interview Questions
Shell Scripting Interview Questions for

Freshers (.....Continued)
21. What is the importance of $#?

22. Write the command that is used to execute a shell file.
23. Name the command that can be used to find out the number of arguments
passed to the script?
24. How long does a variable in a shell script last?
25. What does the . (dot) indicate at the beginning of the file name? How can it be
listed?
26. What is the use of the "$?" command?
27. What is the best way to run a script in the background?

Experienced
28. What do you mean by crontab?
29. Name two files of crontab command.
30. Name the command that is used to take the backup.
31. Write the difference between $* and $@
32. Name the command that is used to compare the strings in a shell script.
33. Write down the Syntax for all the loops in Shell Scripting.
34. What are interactive and non-interactive shells?
35. How will you pass and access arguments to a script in Linux?
36. What do you mean by the “s” permission bit in a file?
37. How will you debug a shell script?
38. What is the best way to debug the shell script/program problems?


Experienced (.....Continued)
39. What is the importance of sed command and awk command?

40. Write the difference between “=” and “==”.
41. Name the command that is used to display the shell's environment variable.
42. Name different commands that are available to check the disk usage.
43. What do you mean by metacharacters?
44. How will you find total shells available in your system?
45. Explain how you will open a read-only file in Unix/Shell.
46. Name the command that one should use to know how long the system has been
running.
47. Write the difference between $$ and $!?
48. Write difference between grep and find command.
49. How can we create a function in shell script?
50. How to use pipe commands?

Let's get Started
What is Shell Scripting
Text files containing commands to execute by a shell are called shell scripts. In this,
long and repetitive series of commands are compiled into a single script that can be
stored and executed at any time, thereby reducing programming efforts. In shell
scripts, repetitive work is largely avoided. The most common reason for using shell
scripting is to program operating systems of Windows, UNIX, Apple, etc. In addition,
companies use this script to develop an operating system with their own features. In
terms of system-level operations, it is considered to be the easiest programming
language to use. A shell script is referred to as a batch file in DOS operating system,
and EXEC in IBM's mainframe VM operating systems. Shell scripts can be used for the
following applications:

Automation of the code compiling process.

Run a program or create an environment for programming.
Complete batch processing and file manipulation.
Integrate existing programs.
Perform routine backups.
Keeping an eye on a system.
System administration's tasks
Creating, maintaining, and implementing system boot scripts
A sample shell script:
echo "hello world"
Run it as follows:
$ bash hello.sh
# prints
hello world
Shell Scripting Interview Questions for Freshers

1. What is Shell?
A Shell is basically a command-line interpreter between user and kernel or a
complete environment specially designed to run commands, shell scripts, and
programs. In this, whenever a user enters human-readable commands (input
commands) through the keyboard, the shell communicates with the kernel to
execute these commands, and display output in a shell script. Just as there are
different flavors of operating systems, there are also different types of shells. Every
shell has its own set of commands and functions. Shells issue the prompt, $, called a
command prompt. You can type into the prompt while it is displayed.
A er you press enter, your input is read by the shell. Based on the first word of your
input, it determines the command you want to run. The characters in a word are
separated using spaces and tabs.
Example:
Here is an example of a date command that displays the current date and time:

$date Tue Aug 10 06:03:35 MST 2021
2. Why is a shell script needed?

Shell scripts can be written for a variety of reasons:
Keeping repetitive tasks to a minimum.
Can be used by system administrators for routine backups.
Monitoring the system.
Adding new functions to the shell.
Shell scripting allows you to create your own tools.
System admin can automate daily tasks.
3. Write some advantages of shell scripting.

Shell scripting offers the following benefits:

An interactive debugging tool, as well as a quick start.

Programmers need not change their syntax since both command and syntax are
identical to those entered directly into the command line.
Shell scripts are easy to use and quicker to write.
It helps automate administrative tasks, so it is time-saving.
As shell scripts are written in an interpreted language, they can be run without
any additional effort on almost any modern operating system, including UNIX,
Linux, BSD, and Mac OS X.
They can be utilized for bulk execution rather than single instructions.
Using it, you can develop your own custom operating system with relevant
features.
So ware applications can be developed according to their respective platforms
with this tool.
4. Write some limitations of shell scripting.

Shell scripting has the following disadvantages:
Errors are frequent and costly, and a single error can alter the command.
The execution speed is slow.
Bugs or inadequacies in the language's syntax or implementation.
Large, complex tasks aren't well suited to it.
Contrary to other scripting languages, etc., it provides a minimal data
structure.
Every time a shell command is executed, a new process is launched.
5. Name the file in which shell programs are stored.

A file called sh stores shell programs. Sh files contain commands written in a scripting
language that is run by Unix shells.
6. Name different types of shells available.

Shells are divided into two categories:
Bourne shell: The $ character is the default prompt when using a Bourne-
type shell.
C shell: The % character is the default prompt when using a C-type shell.

The Bourne-type is subdivided into the following categories:

Bourne Again shell (BASH): This is the most common shell available on all Linux
and based systems. It is open-source and freeware. In addition, it is an SH-
compatible shell, with improved programming and interactive features over SH.
It also allows you to efficiently perform many tasks.
Korn shell (KSH): Korn is basically a Unix shell that was initially based on the
Bash Shell Scripting. It's a high-level language that's quite advanced. It has
associative arrays and handles the loop syntax better than Bash. It is basically an
improved version of Bourne shell.
The C-type is subdivided into the following categories:
C shell (CSH): C shell is almost like C itself since it uses the shell syntax of the C
programming language. In most cases, a command is executed either
interactively from a terminal keyboard or from a file.
TENEX/TOPS C shell (TCSH): TCSH does not have a specific full name. TCSH is
considered as an enhanced version of the CSH as it includes some additional
features over CSH like command-line editing and filename or command
completion. As with the previous version, it supports C-style syntax also.
7. Write difference between Bourne Shell and C Shell.

Bourne Shell: It has compactness and speed that set it apart from other shells.
But it lacks interactive features such as the ability to recall previous commands.
Additionally, the Bourne shell does not support arithmetic and logical
expressions.
C Shell: It is a UNIX enhancement that incorporates interactive features like
aliases and history of commands. Besides its built-in arithmetic and expression
syntax, it also includes convenient programming features.
Difference between Bourne shell and C shell

The C shell allows you to alias commands easily, whereas Bourne Shell does not
allow this.
In the C shell, long commands can be used repeatedly, but not in Bourne.
Bourne does not have access to the command history, but the C shell does.
In the case of C, there is no need to repeatedly type the command.
8. What do you mean by Shell variable?

Shell variables are integral parts of all Shell programs and scripts. In general, we
know that variables usually store data either in the form of characters or numbers.
Shell also stores and manipulates information using variables in its programs.
Generally, shell variables are stored as strings. Variables in the shell provide the
information needed for scripts/commands to execute. In the following example, a
shell variable is created and then printed:
variable ="Hello"
echo $variable
9. What are different types of variables mostly used in shell

scripting?
Shell scripts usually have two types of variables:
System-defined variables: Also called environment variables, these are special
built-in variables in the Linux kernel for each shell. They are normally defined in
capital letters by the OS (Linux) and are standard variables.
Example:
SHELL
It is a Unix Defined or System Variable, which specifies the default working shell.
User-defined variables: These variables are created and defined by users in
order to store, access, read, and manipulate data. In general, they are defined in
lowercase letters. The Echo command allows you to view them.
Example:
$ a=10
In this case, the user has defined the variable ‘a’ and assigned it the value 10.

10. Explain the term positional parameters.

In a shell program, positional parameters specify arguments that are used to launch
the current process. A special set of variables is usually maintained by the shell for
storing positional parameter values. Bash is an example of a shell that uses positional
parameters. The bash shell can be used on Linux, BSD, macOS X, and Windows 10.
For example:
mycommand one five "six four”
In this case, the command name is mycommand, and there are four parameters in
the command line: one, five, and "six four”.
Note: A space delimits each positional parameter and each thing a er spaces are
interpreted by the shell as individual parameters. Therefore, the parameter itself
should be enclosed in quotation marks if it contains a space, as in "six four".
11. What are control instructions?

Control instructions specify how the different instructions will be executed in the
script. They are primarily used to determine the control flow in Shell programs. The
execution of a shell script proceeds in succession without these instructions. In shell
programs, control instructions govern how execution flows.
12. How many types of control instructions are available in a

shell?
Shells provide four types of control instructions as given below:

Sequence Control Instruction: This assures that a program's command runs in

the sequence they are listed. As soon as the first command in the sequence has
been completed, the second command follows, and so on.
Decision Control Instruction: It is also known as Selection Control Instruction.
This instructs the computer which instruction it should execute next. In this,
checking a condition is the basis for deciding which section to execute. If a given
condition is True, a statement or set of statements will be executed; otherwise,
they will be ignored.
Loop Control Instruction: It is also known as Repetition Instruction. This
instruction allows a computer to continuously run a particular sequence of
code. In a loop structure, the statements can be repeated until a condition is
True or False, a particular number of times, or once for each element within the
collection
Case-Control Instruction: This is used for selecting among several choices.
Typically, they are used to execute only a particular block of statements within a
series of statements.
13. Explain ways to create shortcuts in Linux.

Links present in Linux OS can be used to create shortcuts as given below:
Hard Link: Hard links are mirror images of the originally linked files and are
linked with an inode number. A hard-linked file remains even a er the original
file is deleted. Since hard links point to inodes, they cannot be implemented on
directories. Hard links are created by the following command:
$ ln [original filename] [link name]

So Link: Generally, so links (also referred to as Symbolic links) are linked to

the file name and can reside on the same as well as different file systems. When
a so link is created or deleted, it does not affect the original file, but when the
original file is deleted, the so link stops working. Typically, so links are aliases
(alternative paths) for the original file. So links are created by the following
command:
$ ln -s [original filename] [link name]
14. How to check whether a link is a hard one or a so link?

We can use -h and -L operators of the test command to check whether a link is hard
or so (symbolic link).
-h file //true if the file is a symbolic link
-L file //true if the file is a symbolic link
One can also use:
readlink FILE; echo $? // This returns 1 if it's a hard link and 0 if it's a symbolic
link.

15. Write difference between Hard link and So Link.
Hard Link So Link
Hard-linked files have the So -linked files have

same inode number. different inode numbers.
Despite deleting the target When an original file is

file, it remains valid. deleted, it becomes invalid.
Hard links are faster than So links are slower than

so links. hard links.
The command used for The command used for

creating a hard link in Linux creating a so link in Linux is
is "ln". “ln -s”.
There is no way to use it You can use it on any file

across file systems. system.
Both absolute and relative

Hard links cannot use
paths can be used in so
relative paths.
links.
16. What do you mean by GUI Scripting?

The GUI (Graphical User Interface) is a client/server interface that uses graphical icons
and visual indicators to allow users to interact with devices. Specifically, it is used to
control a computer and its applications. A wide variety of applications are supported,
and it is largely dependent on the operating system.
17. What is the shebang line in shell scripting?

Shell scripts or programs o en contain shebang at the top. In general, the Shebang
(the series of characters "#!") is used to indicate the operating system to use a
particular interpreter to process the rest of the file. Here, the symbol '#' is referred to
as hash, and "!" is referred to as bang. This usually aids developers in avoiding
repetitive work. Scripts are generally executed by the engine; therefore, shebang
determines the location of the engine that will be used to run the script.
Example:
#!/bin/bash
In addition, this line also specifies which shell to use.
18. What is a file system? Write down the four core components

of a Linux file system.
Generally, file systems are referred to as the collections of files, which include
information related to those files. It would be impossible to tell where one piece of
data stops and the next begins without a file system. There are four blocks in a file
system:

Super Block: A superblock contains information about a file system, including

block size, group size, usage statistics, empty/filled blocks, inode table size &
location, and so on. One of the tools used to describe a file system, along with
inodes, entries, and files, is the superblock. Multiple superblocks are created
with the file system, as the superblock contains critical information.
Boot Block: Located on the disk label, a boot block is a special set of blocks that
contains data or information on the disk layout. Normally, this block contains
the bootstrap loader program, which a user runs upon launching the host
computer. The boot block remains blank if the file system is not used for boot.
Data Block: Also called storage blocks, data blocks contain the remainder of the
space allocated to the file system. The data block's size is measured at the time
of file system creation. For a regular file, the content of files is contained in the
data blocks. For directories, the inode number and file name of the files are
contained in the data blocks.
Inode: Inodes contain information about each file in the filesystem. Normally, an
inode doesn't contain a file's name, which is located in a directory instead. An
inode contains information such as the type of file, the permission bits, the
owner, the group, the file size, and the time when the file was modified.
19. Name the alternative command for echo.

The tput command is an alternative command for echo. We can use this command to
control how the output is displayed. Additionally, shell scripts can do things such as
underline text and center text, regardless of the size of the screen.
20. Explain the way you can connect to a database server.

Open client driver comes with the isql utility that can be used to connect to a
database server from Linux. Here's how to do it:
isql –S serverName –U username –P password
21. What is the importance of $#?

$# usually holds the number of arguments, although it may be different for functions.
To put it simply, it was used to store the number of command-line arguments passed
to a shell script.

22. Write the command that is used to execute a shell file.

Firstly, use the chmod command to set execute permission on your script as shown
below:
chmod +x script-name-here.sh
Secondly, run or execute your script as follows:
./script-name-here.sh
Alternatively, you can execute shell script by:
sh script-name-here.sh
23. Name the command that can be used to find out the number
of arguments passed to the script?
The following command will display the number of arguments passed to the script:
echo $ #
24. How long does a variable in a shell script last?

Variables inside shell scripts have a lifespan of only as long as the execution lasts.
25. What does the . (dot) indicate at the beginning of the file

name? How can it be listed?
If the file name begins with ".", it is a hidden file. When a dot appears at the beginning
of a filename, the file is hidden in most file managers and shell programs. A Shell
usually lists all the files except hidden files when you try to list the files in a shell.
Despite this, hidden files can be found in the directory. The Is command must be run
with the "–a" flag if you wish to see hidden files.
26. What is the use of the "$?" command?

By using the command "$?", you can find out the status of the last command
executed.
27. What is the best way to run a script in the background?

Example:
script.sh &
command &

Experienced
28. What do you mean by crontab?
Crontab stands for "cron table," meaning that it makes use of the cron scheduler to
perform tasks. In other words, it is the list of commands that you wish to run on a
regular schedule and the command that will let you manage it. It is possible to view
or edit the table of commands using the crontab command. In addition to the
schedule, the term "Crontab" also refers to the name of the program used to edit the
schedule.
29. Name two files of crontab command.

cron.deny and cron.allow are two files in the /etc/cron.d directory that controls
access to the crontab command. Crontab command tasks such as creating, editing,
displaying, or removing crontab files are relegated to specific users through these
files. Both files usually consist of a list of user names, one user name per line.
Together, these access control files perform the following functions:
cron.allow decides which users are allowed to run the crontab command.
cron.deny decides which users are denied from using the crontab command.
When cron.allow or cron.deny doesn't exist, superuser privileges are required to
run it.
30. Name the command that is used to take the backup.

The backup is taken using the tar command. Tar is an acronym for tape archive and is
used to create backups using tar, gzip, and bzip. Files can be saved and restored from
and to a tape using this command. In this, files and directories are generally
compressed into tarballs, an archive file. For this purpose, it is among the most
widely used commands. Furthermore, the tarball can be easily moved from one
server to another.
31. Write the difference between $* and $@

Unlike $@, where each quoted argument is treated as a separate argument, $* treats
each positional parameter as a single argument.
32. Name the command that is used to compare the strings in a

shell script.
To compare text strings, use the test command. By comparing each character in each
string, the test command usually compares text strings. In most cases, tests are
generally included as a conditional execution of shell commands. It can be used for:
Comparison of file attributes
Comparison of strings
Comparing basic arithmetic operations
Using square brackets ([ and ]) around the EXPRESSION is equivalent to testing it with
the test.
Syntax of test command:
test EXPRESSION
test EXPRESSION && true-command
test EXPRESSION || false-command
test EXPRESSION && true-command || false-command
Examples:
test 50 -gt 40 && echo "Yes" || echo "No"
Because 50 is greater than 40, this command prints the text "Yes".
["Excellent" = "Excellent"]; echo $?

As the two strings are identical, this command prints "0" because the expression is
true.
33. Write down the Syntax for all the loops in Shell Scripting.
In shell scripting, you can use three looping statements as given below:
while statement
for statement
until statement
Syntax is as follows:
For Loop: Loops that operate on lists of items are known as loops. Each item in
the list receives the same set of commands.
Syntax:
for var in word1 word2 ... wordN

do
Statement to be executed
done
Example:
for a in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
do
if [ $a == 3 ]
then
break
fi
echo "Iteration no $a"
done
Output”
$bash -f main.sh
Iteration no 1
Iteration no 2

While Loop: It involves evaluating a command first and then executing a loop
based on the result. The loop will be terminated if the command raises to false.
Syntax:
while command
do
Statement to be executed
done
Example:
a=0
while [ $a -lt 3 ]
do
echo $a
a=èxpr $a + 1`
done
Output:
$bash -f main.sh
0
1
2
3
Until Loop: As o en as the condition/command evaluates to false, the until loop

is executed. Once the condition or command becomes true, the loop
terminates.
Syntax:
until command
do
Statement to be executed until command is true
done
Example:

a=0
until [ $a -gt 3 ]
do
echo $a
a=èxpr $a + 1`
done
Output:
$bash -f main.sh
0
1
2
3
34. What are interactive and non-interactive shells?

Interactive shell: /bin/bash and /bin/sh is interactive shell. It is a non-login shell that
gets started from a command line. It first copies the parent environment and then
invokes.
Non-Interactive shell: /sbin/nologin shell is non-interactive shell. It is present when
the shell script is running and just inherits the parent's environment.
35. How will you pass and access arguments to a script in Linux?

In scripts, arguments are passed as follows:
scriptName "Arg1" "Arg2"…."Argn"
Arguments in a script can be accessed as follows:
$1 , $2 .. $n
36. What do you mean by the “s” permission bit in a file?

The SUID (Set User ID) bit is known as the "s" bit. SUIDS are special file permissions
for executable files that enable other users to run the file as the file owner. There will
be an s (to indicate SUID) special permission for the user instead of the normal x,
which represents execute permissions. A file that has the "s" bit set will grant the
process the rights of the file's owner while the program is running.

Example:
Executing the "passwd" command to change the password, for example, allows the
user to write the new password to the shadow file even though its owner is "root".
37. How will you debug a shell script?

With set, you can turn on or off debugging options in the shell:
Set -x: This displays commands and their arguments as they are being executed.
Set -v: It displays shell input lines in real-time as they are read.
38. What is the best way to debug the shell script/program

problems?
Following are some common methods of debugging a script:
The shell script can be modified to include debug statements to display the
information that can be useful in identifying the problem.
By setting -x in the script, we can enable debugging.
39. What is the importance of sed command and awk command?

sed Command: sed command is an acronym for stream editor. It is used for
editing a file without using an editor. The SED command performs a variety of
operations on files, such as searching, finding and replacing, inserting and
deleting. However, substitution or find and replace are the most commonly used
features of SED.
Syntax: sed options file
Example: Execution over Shell Interpreter/Editor
/u/user1/Shell_Scripts_2020> echo "Hi Gourav" | sed 's/Hi/Hello/'
In this case, “s” command in sed replaces the string Hi with “Hello”.
Output:
Hello Gourav

awk Command: The command is a scripting language generally used to

manipulate data and generate reports. There is no need to compile it and users
are allowed to have access to a variable, string functions, numeric functions, and
logical operations.
Syntax: awk options File Name
Example: Script/Code
/u/user1/Shell_Scripts_2017> cat > script10

Hello Aisha
Hello Rohan
Hello Gourav
An awk command/utility assigns variables in following way:

$0 -> For whole line (e.g. Hello Aisha)
$1 -> For the first field i.e. Hello
$2 -> For the second field
Execution over Shell Interpreter/Editor
awk ‘{print $0}’ script10
The above script prints all the 3 lines completely.

Output:
Hello Aisha
Hello Rohan
Hello Gourav
Execution over Shell Interpreter/Editor
awk ‘{print $1}’ script10
The above script prints only the first word i.e., Hello from each line.
Output:

Hello
Hello
Hello
40. Write the difference between “=” and “==”.

= operator: Assigning the value into a variable is accomplished by using the =
operator. It is referred to as the assignment operator.
Example: Suppose variable a holds 5 and variable b holds 2, then:
a = $b; #Would assign value of b to a
== operator: This is used to compare strings. In the double equals operator,

both operands are compared. If they are equal, it returns true, otherwise, it
returns false.
Example: Suppose variable a holds 5 and variable b holds 2, then:
[ $a == $b ]; #Comparing the values of a and b.
41. Name the command that is used to display the shell's

environment variable.
Shell functions, along with other Linux programs, are controlled by environmental
variables. Any child process of the shell has access to an environment variable.
These variables are necessary for some programs to function properly. env or
printenv commands can be used to display the shell's environment variables.
42. Name different commands that are available to check the

disk usage.
The following commands are available to check disk space usage:

df – It is used to find out how much space is le on a disk.

du – With this command, you can find out how much disk space the specified
files and each subdirectory take up.
dfspace – Using this command, you can check the amount of free disk space in
MB.
43. What do you mean by metacharacters?

In a data field or program, metacharacters are special characters that provide
information about other characters. In shells, they're called regular expressions. A
character that is neither a letter nor a number is generally considered a
metacharacter. Using shell metacharacters, you can group together commands,
redirect and pipe input/output, put commands in the background, reduce the size of
file names and path names, etc. You can use them as wildcards to specify a file name
without typing in the file's full name. The most common metacharacters are as
follows:
Asterisk (*): Use the * to match any character.
Question Mark (?): It matches a single character in the filename.
Brackets ([…]): The metacharacters used here match some specified
characters.
Hyphen (-): When placed within [] (brackets), the - metacharacter matches a
specified range.
44. How will you find total shells available in your system?

Within your system, there are several shells available. If you want to find all the shells
on the system, you can use $ cat /etc/shells.
Example:
$ cat /etc/shells
Execution over Shell Interpreter/Editor:
$ cat /etc/shells
Output:
/bin/sh

/bin/bash
/sbin/nologin
/bin/ksh
/bin/csh
45. Explain how you will open a read-only file in Unix/Shell.

You can open a read-only file by: vi –R <Filename>
46. Name the command that one should use to know how long
the system has been running.
Using the Uptime command, you can see how long your system has been active. You
can also determine the number of users with running sessions, and the average
system load for 1, 5, and 15 minutes. The information displayed at once can also be
filtered based on your specified options.
Example: $ uptime
Entering the above command at the shell prompt, namely $ uptime, will produce the
following output:
9:21am up 86 day(s), 11:46, 3 users, load average: 2.24, 2.18, 2.16
47. Write the difference between $$ and $!?

You can use $$ to get the process id of the current process. However, $! displays the
process id for a background process that recently went away.
48. Write difference between grep and find command.

Grep command: This command facilitates searching and displaying content
based on regular expressions specified by the user. Using the Grep command,
one can search in a file for patterns. Grep command have the following syntax:
grep “literal string” <filename>
Example:

grep “apple” file1.txt //Displays all the lines with the word “appl
grep “apple” file1.txt file2.txt //Scan multiple documents and search the word “appl
Find command: The FIND command searches for files and folders based on their
size, modification time, and access time. You can use this command to search
files and directories. Find command have the following syntax:
find <path> <search criteria> <action>
Example:
find –type f // Command will find all the files
find –type d //Command will find all the directories
find . –name file1.txt //Command will find file1.txt in the current directory.
49. How can we create a function in shell script?

In other programming languages, shell functions are much like subroutines,
procedures, and functions. The syntax for declaring a function is as follows:
function_name ()
{
list of commands
}
Function_name is the name of your function, and that's what you'll use to call it from
anywhere in your script. The function name must be followed by parentheses, then a
list of commands enclosed in braces.
Example:
The following example shows how function can be used:

#!/bin/sh
# Define your function here
Hello ()
{
echo "Hello World"
}
# Invoke your function

Hello
The following output will be displayed a er execution:
$./test.sh
Hello World
50. How to use pipe commands?

Pipe command allows you to use several commands in the same way, in which the
output of one is used as input for another. Like a pipeline, each process output is
directly input to the next one. A pipe is represented by the symbol "|". The flow of
data through a pipeline is unidirectional, i.e., from le to right.
Syntax :
command_1 | command_2 | command_3 | .... | command_N
Conclusion

You can automate a lot of repetitive manual tasks with shell scripting, which is an
easy and powerful programming method. Modern programming languages offer
many of the features that make them appealing to programmers. DevOps engineers
and automation testers o en find this concept vital in preparing for interviews. Shell
scripting allows the development of simple to complex scripts. A number of daily
tasks can be automated using shell scripting as well. We thought of making your job
easier by putting together an ensemble of the most frequently asked interview
questions and sample answers on shell scripting. These interview questions will
definitely help you understand that shell is basically an interface between the user
and the operating system, which interprets user commands to be executed by the
kernel or operating system.
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Shell Scripting Interview Questions for Freshers

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Shell Scripting Interview Questions for

21. What is the importance of $#?

Shell Scripting Interview Questions for

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Shell Scripting Interview Questions for

39. What is the importance of sed command and awk command?

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What is Shell Scripting

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Automation of the code compiling process.

Shell Scripting Interview Questions for Freshers

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$date Tue Aug 10 06:03:35 MST 2021

2. Why is a shell script needed?

3. Write some advantages of shell scripting.

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An interactive debugging tool, as well as a quick start.

4. Write some limitations of shell scripting.

5. Name the file in which shell programs are stored.

6. Name diﬀerent types of shells available.

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The Bourne-type is subdivided into the following categories:

7. Write diﬀerence between Bourne Shell and C Shell.

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8. What do you mean by Shell variable?

9. What are diﬀerent types of variables mostly used in shell

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10. Explain the term positional parameters.

11. What are control instructions?

12. How many types of control instructions are available in a

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Sequence Control Instruction: This assures that a program's command runs in

13. Explain ways to create shortcuts in Linux.

$ ln [original filename] [link name]

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So Link: Generally, so links (also referred to as Symbolic links) are linked to

$ ln -s [original filename] [link name]

14. How to check whether a link is a hard one or a so link?

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15. Write diﬀerence between Hard link and So Link.

Hard Link So Link

Hard-linked files have the So -linked files have

Despite deleting the target When an original file is

Hard links are faster than So links are slower than

The command used for The command used for

There is no way to use it You can use it on any file

Both absolute and relative

16. What do you mean by GUI Scripting?

17. What is the shebang line in shell scripting?

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18. What is a file system? Write down the four core components

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Super Block: A superblock contains information about a file system, including

19. Name the alternative command for echo.