UNIX CHAPTERWISE QUESTIONS FROM PREVIOUS

QUESTION PAPERS
CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND AND SOME BASIC COMMANDS

SI.No QUESTIONS YEAR MARKS

1 Explain any 6 features of Unix 2019,2016,2014 6,8
2 Explain following commands with example 2019 10
i)cal (ii) mailx (iii) passwd (iv) tty (v) who
3 Short notes- i) echo & bc 2019,2019,2015 4
ii) man 4
4 Explain Unix architecture with neat diagram 2018,2017,2015, 6,6,8
2014
5 Explain the below commands: 2018 10
i) man (ii) date (iii) bc (iv) script (v) tty
6 Short notes- cal command 2018 4
7 How to browse manual pages online in Unix system? 2017,2016 6
Explain with example
8 Explain date command with syntax and options. 2017 4
9 Discuss bc, script and who command with all options 2017 8
10 Where the Unix commands are locating? 2016 2
11 Explain date, echo and printf commands with example 2016 8
12 How you record the login session? Explain command 2016 6
with example
13 Explain cal command 2016 2
14 Short notes - bc command 2016 4
15 Distinguish between internal and external command 2015,2014 4,8
with example

CHAPTER 2: THE FILE SYSTEM AND SOME FILE HANDLING COMMANDS

SI.No QUESTIONS YEAR MARKS

1 Discuss parent-child relationship in Unix file system 2019 6
tree
2 Name the command for the following and give example 2019 10
i) Changing current directory
ii) Listing the files
iii) Creating the files
iv) Counting words, lines and characters in file
v) Compressing the file
3 Explain more and comm commands with examples 2019 6
4 Short notes- Absolute and Relative pathname 2019,2015 4
5 Explain Unix file system hierarchy tree 2018 6
 6 Explain following commands with example 2018 10
i)pwd ii) cat iii) mv iv) passwd
7 Explain the commands: i) cmp i) comm i) diff 2018,2017,2016 8,6,4
8 Short notes- i) spell ii) gzip iii)more iv) lp 2018 16
9 What do you mean by file system? Explain Unix file 2017,2014 8,6
system with neat diagram
10 Explain cd, rm and mv commands with options and 2017 6
examples.
11 How do you use far to add two files xyz.html and 2017 4
abc.html to an archive and then compress the archive?
12 Short notes- i) lp subsystem ii) mkdir and rmdir 2017 8
13 What are different types of files? Explain them briefly 2016,2015 6,8
14 Explain pwd, cd and mkdir commands with example 2016 6
15 What is the difference between cat foo and cat > foo? 2016 4
Why do you have to use [ctrl-d] in one and not in the
other
16 How do DOS and Unix files differ? Name the utilities 2016 6
that convert files between these two formats.
17 What do you mean by recursive behavior of a 2016 6
command? Name two commands along with example
that can operate recursively.
18 Explain command gzip and gunzip 2016 2
19 Write a note on compression and decompression utilities 2015 8
available in Unix.
20 Short notes - wc with options 2015 4
21 What are the file related commands? Explain them 2014 6
briefly
22 Explain following commands with options 2014 4
i) mkdir ii) file

CHAPTER 3: FILE ATTRIBUTES

SI.No QUESTIONS YEAR MARKS

1 Explain absolute permissions in octal form 2019 4
2 Explain the commands- i) chmod (ii) chown 2019 6
3 Explain briefly File system and its Inodes 2019 6
4 Discuss ‘ln’ and ‘ln –s’ commands with example 2019 6
5 Define the following 2019 4
i)Access time ii)Modification time iii)Change time
6 Short notes- i) umask and touch 2019 4
ii) find command 2019,2015 4
7 Explain hard link and symbolic link with example 2018,2015 6,8
8 How to list file attributes and explain all its 2018,2017,2014 8,5
attributes
9 Explain find command with at least 6 selection 2017 8
 criteria
10 Short notes- i) chmod ii) inode 2017 8
11 Explain the significance of these two commands 2016 4
i) ls . . ii) ls -d . .
12 Explain the importance of seven fields of the ‘ls -l’ 2016,2015 8
output with example
13 What is inode?How you change the file permissions 2016 8
,file ownership and directory permissions? Explain
with example.
14 Explain the command - umask 2016 2
15 Describe absolute and relative way of setting file 2015 8
permissions with example
16 Explain following commands 2015 4
i) cp ????? progs ii) umask 022
17 Short notes - i) chown ii) chgrp 2015 4
18 What are the file permissions and how to change 2014 5
file permissions?
19 Write the uses of i) od ii) diff 2014 5

CHAPTER 4: THE VI EDITOR

SI.No QUESTIONS YEAR MARKS

1 Explain different modes used in Vi Editor 2019,2018,2015,2014 6,8
2 In Vi Editor, write commands for the following 2019 8
with example
i) Yanking the text
ii) Deleting text
iii) Joining lines
iv) Undoing text
3 How to search and replace in Vi editor? 2019 2
4 write command for the following 2018 8
i) Save and quitting in Vi editor
ii) Removing directories
iii) Knowing file types
iv) Copying the file
5 Discuss three modes of Vi Editor and explain 2017 8
navigation commands in Vi Editor
6 Name 3 modes of Vi editor and explain the 2016 8
commands to switch from one mode to another
CHAPTER 5: THE SHELL

SI.No QUESTIONS YEAR MARKS

1 Explain activities performed by shell in interpretive 2019,2018,2014 6
cycle
2 Define wild cards.Explain following metacharacters 2019 8
(i) * (ii) ? (iii) . (dot)
3 Standard error in shell mention 2019 2
4 Explain two special files in Shell 2018 4
5 What do you mean by shell? Explain significance of 2017 6
single and double quotes in shell
6 Define PATH variable 2017 2
7 Define shell and explain pattern matching wild 2016,2014 8
cards with example
8 Explain PATH and SHELL Environment variable 2015 4
9 Explain i) /dev/null ii) /dev/tty iii) tee 2015 6

CHAPTER 6: THE PROCESS

SI.No QUESTIONS YEAR MARKS

1 Explain Wait or Not Wait in process. 2019 4
2 Discuss following commands 2019 8
i) ps ii) kill iii) time iv) nice
3 Explain mechanism of process creation. 2019,2017,2015 4,6,8
4 Explain the following commands 2018 6
i)at ii) ps iii)time
5 Explain background and foreground process 2018,2017,2015,2014 6,4
6 What is kill and batch command 2018 4
7 Explain nice, batch and cron command with 2017 6
example
8 Define process. Explain ps command with all 2016,2014 8,6
options available with it
9 Explain the command - nice 2016 2
10 Short notes - Job control 2015 4
11 Short notes - i) killing of process 2014 8
ii) cron and time
CHAPTER 7: COMMUNICATION IN UNIX

SI.No QUESTIONS YEAR MARKS

1 Explain the commands: i) talk ii) write 2018 4
2 Discuss any 4 communication commands with 2017,2014 8
syntax and example
3 Explain the command - finger 2016 2
4 Short notes- talk and wall command 2016 4

CHAPTER 8: SIMPLE FILTERS AND GREP FAMILY OF COMMANDS

SI.No QUESTIONS YEAR MARKS

1 Explain grep command with its options 2018 6,8
2 What are pattern matching characters 2018 4
3 Short notes - tail command 2018 4
4 Short notes - cut and paste 2017 4
5 Short notes - i) head and tail ii) grep 2016,2014 8
6 Explain following commands with examples 2015 8
i) head ii) cut iii) sort iv) tr
7 Differentiate head and tail command 2014 4
8 Briefly explain cut and paste commands 2014 4
9 Short notes - tr 2014 4