Top Tips for Passing the LPI 010-160 Exam on Your First Try

The zip command is used to create compressed archive files that can contain one or more files or directories. The zip command takes the name of the archive file as the first argument, followed by the names of the files or directories to be included in the archive. You can also use wildcards to match multiple files or directories with a common pattern. For example, the command zip poems.zip *.txt will create the ZIP archive poems.zip containing all files in the current directory whose names end in .txt. The other commands are either invalid or do not perform the desired operation. The command zip *.txt > poems.zip will try to create an archive for each file ending in .txt and redirect the output to poems.zip, which is not a valid archive file. The command zcat *.txt poems.zip will try to decompress and concatenate the contents of the files ending in .txt and poems.zip, which is not a valid ZIP file. The command zip cfz poems.zip *.txt will fail because the options c, f, and z are not valid for the zip command. The command cat *.txt | zip poems.zip will try to read the contents of the files ending in .txt from the standard input and create an archive named poems.zip, but this will not preserve the file names or attributes of the original files. References:

• Linux Essentials - Linux Professional Institute (LPI), section 3.1.1
• 3.1 Archiving Files on the Command Line - Linux Professional Institute Certification Programs, slide

The su command stands for substitute user or switch user. It allows you to run a shell or a command as another user, usually the superuser or root. To use the su command, you need to know the password of the target user. For example, if you want to switch to the root user, you can type su - and enter the root password. This will give you a root shell, where you can execute commands with administrative privileges. To exit the root shell, you can type exit or press Ctrl-D. The su command is not the default shell of the root account, nor can it only be used by the root user. It can be used by any user who knows the password of another user. The su command does not change the name of the main administrator account, which is always root on Linux systems. The su command also does not lock the root account in specific time frames, although there are other ways to do that, such as using the pam_time module. References:

• Linux Essentials - Linux Professional Institute (LPI), section 5.1.1
• LPI Linux Essentials Study Guide: Exam 010 v1.6, 3rd Edition, chapter 9, page 219.

The -R parameter of the ls command prints a recursive listing of a directory’s content, meaning that it will list not only the files and directories in the current directory, but also the files and directories in all the subdirectories12. For example, if you have a directory structure like this:

/home/user/├──dir1│├──file1│└──file2└──dir2├──file3└──file4

You can use the command ls -R /home/user/ to list all the files and directories recursively, and the output will look like this:

/home/user/: dir1 dir2

/home/user/dir1: file1 file2

/home/user/dir2: file3 file4

The -R parameter is also known as the --recursive option, which is the long form of the same parameter12. You can use either -R or --recursive to achieve the same result.

References:

• Use ls Command Recursively - Linux Handbook
• How to List Files Recursively in Linux command line

The tar command in Linux is used to create, extract, list, and manipulate archive files1. The -c option tells the command to create a new archive file. The -f option specifies the name of the archive file. The last argument is the name of the directory or file to be archived. Therefore, the command tar -cf work.tar ./work/ will create an archive file named work.tar from the contents of the directory ./work/. The other options are either invalid or do not create the desired archive file. Option A uses an unrecognized option --new. Option C uses an incorrect option --content and an incorrect extension .tgz for a plain tar archive. Option D and E use an incorrect syntax for redirecting the input or output of the tar command. References:

• Linux Essentials Version 1.6 Objectives, Topic 1.4: Command Line Basics, Subtopic: Basic Shell Commands
• Linux Essentials Version 1.6 Exam Preparation Guide, Section 1.4: Command Line Basics, Page 16
• Tar Command in Linux (Create and Extract Archives) | Linuxize2

The return value of a shell script after successful execution is 0. This is a convention followed by most UNIX and Linux commands, programs, and utilities. A return value of 0 indicates that the command or script completed successfully, without any errors. A return value of non-zero (1-255) indicates that the command or script failed, and the value can be interpreted as an error code. The return value of a command or script is stored in the special variable $? and can be used to test the outcome of a command or script123. For example, the following script will print a message based on the return value of the ls command:

#!/bin/bash ls if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then echo “ls command executed successfully” else echo “ls command failed” fi

References: 1: Exit and Exit Status - Linux Documentation Project 2: Linux Passwd Command Help and Examples 3: bash - Which is the best way to check return result? - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange

The command ls …/Documents/ lists the contents of the directory /home/user/Documents/. The reason is that the argument …/Documents/ is a relative path that refers to the parent directory of the current directory, which is /home/user/, followed by the subdirectory Documents/. The ls command displays the files and directories in the specified path, or the current directory if no path is given. The command does not change the current directory, so the user remains in /home/user/Downloads/. References:

• Linux Essentials Exam Objectives, Version 1.6, Topic 103.1, Weight 2
• Linux Essentials Certification Guide, Chapter 3, Page 49-50
• Ls Command in Linux (List Files and Directories) | Linuxize

The UID of the user root is always 0 on Linux systems. This is because the kernel uses the UID 0 to check for the superuser privileges and grant access to all system resources. The name of the user account with UID 0 is usually root, but it can be changed or have aliases. However, some applications may expect the name root and not work properly with a different name. The UID 0 is reserved for the root user and cannot be assigned to any other user. The UID 0 is stored in the /etc/passwd file along with other user information. References:

• Linux Essentials Topic 104: The Linux Operating System, section 104.4: Runlevels and Boot Targets.
• Linux Essentials Topic 106: Security and File Permissions, section 106.1: Basic security and identifying user types.
• Linux Essentials Topic 106: Security and File Permissions, section 106.2: Creating users and groups.

 The top command is a Linux command that shows the running processes on the system. It provides a dynamic real-time view of the system performance and resource usage. The top command can display various information about the processes, such as their process ID, user, priority, state, CPU and memory usage, command name, and more. The top command can also sort the processes by different criteria, such as CPU or RAM consumption, by using the interactive commands. The top command is useful for monitoring the system load and identifying the processes that are consuming the most resources. References:

• Linux Essentials Topic 104: The Linux Operating System, section 104.3: Basic features and commands of the Linux standard shells.
• Linux Essentials Topic 106: Security and File Permissions, section 106.4: Monitor and manage Linux processes.

The command pwd stands for “print working directory”. It will print the absolute path of the current working directory to the terminal. For example, if we are currently in the /home/user/directory, it will print out that exact path1. The pwd command is useful for finding out where we are in the file system hierarchy and for verifying the location of files and directories2.

The other options are not commands that show the absolute path to the current working directory. The who command shows the users who are currently logged in to the system3. The cd … command changes the current working directory to the parent directory of the current one2. The ls -l command lists the files and directories in the current working directory in a long format, which shows the permissions, ownership, size, date, and name of each file and directory2. The cd ~/home command changes the current working directory to the /home directory under the user’s home directory, which may or may not exist2. References:

• Linux Essentials Exam Objectives, Version 1.6, Topic 103.1, Weight 2
• Linux Essentials Certification Guide, Chapter 3, Page 51-52
• How to Get the current directory in Linux - howtouselinux
• How To Find The Absolute Path Of A File Or Directory In Linux - systranbox

Most commands on Linux can display information on their usage by running the command with the option -h or --help. This option shows a brief summary of the command syntax, options, arguments, and examples. For example, running ls -h or ls --help will display the usage information for the ls command, which lists files and directories. The -h or --help option is a standard convention for most Linux commands, and it is useful for learning how to use a command or checking its available options. However, some commands may not support this option, or may use a different option to display usage information. In that case, you can use the man command to access the manual page for the command, which provides more detailed information on the command usage, description, options, arguments, examples, and references. For example, running man ls will display the manual page for the ls command. The man command is one of the applications covered in the Linux Essentials certification program from the Linux Professional Institute (LPI). References:

• Linux Essentials - Linux Professional Institute (LPI)
• Linux Commands Cheat Sheet: Beginner to Advanced - GeeksforGeeks