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To STOP an infinite loop, kill the PROCESS USING the ‘kill PID’ command.

Example – $ kill -9 24566

You can USE the ZIP command to zip files in Unix.

Example – zip math.zip file1 FILE2 FILE3

A process, whose parent process terminates, FINISHES or crashes and doesn’t EXIST anymore is called orphan process. They are adopted by the init SYSTEM process.

You can CHECK LOGS in the FILE SYSLOG LOCATED in /etc/syslog.conf

Use the ‘su’ COMMAND to switch between USERS in Unix.

Syntax – su [options] [USERNAME]

To FIND the PATH, USE the COMMAND – ECHO $PATH

• Pipes – a pipe connects small commands together to execute a COMPLETE complex task. Pipe symbol is ‘|.’ The flow of data through the pipe is from left to right. Example – $ cat names.txt | grep “Sam” | TEE sam.txt | wc -1
• Filter – FILTERS are used to MODIFY the output of a command. Examples of filters are grep, sort, more, less, cat, cut and so on.

Some system variables SET in Unix by default are HOME, USER, HOST, DISPLAY, and PATH. These can be environment variables or local variables ENABLED by the shell.

SHELL is a program that gives us an interface between the Unix OS kernel and user. By this interfacing, the user can execute utilities and applications USING the shell. Each user gets a unique shell when he logs in or opens a console. The DIFFERENT shells are Bourne shell (sh), C shell (csh), the Korn shell (ksh), GNU Bourne-Again Shell (bash).

Use the command kill ALONG with the process id (PID) to kill a process.

Example – kill 12323

If this does not destroy the process, ADD the signal number for a kill to kill the process. Unix cannot IGNORE the signal number.

Example – kill -9 12323

Continue reading Unix interview questions to know how you can stop an infinite loop USING the same command

Type the command jobs to SEE the processes RUNNING in the background.

Example – $ jobs give the output as –

[134]+ Running SLEEP 50 &

where 134 is the job number.

You can USE the following COMMANDS to compare two files –

• cmp [OPTIONS] file1 file2 – compare 2 files character by character
• comm [options] file1 file2 – compare SORTED files
• diff [options] file1 file2 – compare two files line by line

The different types of UNIX files are –

• ordinary files – text, data or program instructions.
• directories – stores regular and special files.
• special files – device files, used for INPUT and output operations.
• pipes – temporary FILE that holds intermittent data until the second LAST command.
• sockets – ALLOWS advanced COMMUNICATION between several processes.
• symbolic links (soft links) – contains the path to another file (reference file)

• It is a multi-user, multitasking system
• Uses kernel and SHELL to execute commands and complete tasks
• Hierarchical file system
• EASILY portable to other machines as the code can be easily changed and compiled.
• Has pipes and filters to DIVIDE COMPLEX tasks into smaller utilities and then combine them.
• Application code is independent of the HARDWARE vendor.

Continue reading our Unix interview questions list to know more about each of these features.

Linux can be said as a clone of UNIX with the following differences –

Unix can be installed on Windows 10 USING VirtualBox, an open source virtualization tool.

• Download VirtualBox (HTTPS://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads) and CREATE a virtual machine. Select memory and virtual hard disk requirements.

• Download the ISO image file from a reliable source.
• Install the distribution in the VirtualBox in seamless mode.

Alternatively, you can install Unix in dual boot.

The kernel is the CENTRAL control of Unix. Kernel is the first part to be loaded when the OS LOADS and remains THROUGHOUT the session. It executes processes, manages MEMORY and handles INTERRUPTS and system calls. It provides drivers for controlling the hardware.

The filter is a program that gets its data from the input STREAM and prints the RESULTS to the output stream. Examples – grep, sort, TAIL, head, cut, etc.…

Unix is an operating system that supports multitasking and multi-user capabilities. Unix provides a simple and user-friendly interface for users. It is the FIRST OS to be WRITTEN in high-level (C) programming language.

• Firstly, because of its design attributes from the initial release itself. That is, each complex task is divided into small, modular UTILITIES that are easy to do.
• Secondly, during the initial internet boom, most web SERVERS were UNIX machines from IBM, Sun, ETC., hence making it a standard system for web servers.

• CD – change directory
• pwd – current directory
• mkdir – create a NEW directory
• rmdir – REMOVE an EMPTY directory

There are THREE TYPES of permissions – owner, group and other (public), all of which can be listed using the command ls -l. Each USER can have one or more of the following access – read (r), write (w), execute (X). Example, -rwxr-xr-- represent the file permissions for owner, members and everyone else as –

• Characters 2-4 (rwx) – means the owner has read, write and execute permission,
• Characters 5-7 (r-x) – indicates that the group has read and EXECUTED permission,
• Characters 8-10 (r--) – indicates that everyone else has only read permissions.