Shell Assessment Test

A Shell Assessment Test evaluates a candidate's proficiency with shell scripting and command-line operations in a Unix-like environment. The assessment typically covers fundamental and advanced aspects of shell usage, scripting, and automation.

A Shell Assessment Test evaluates candidates for:

1. Basic Shell Commands

• File and Directory Operations:
  • Listing Files: Using ls with various options (e.g., -l, -a, -h).
  • Changing Directories: Using cd to navigate between directories.
  • Creating and Removing Files: Using touch, rm, and cp.
  • Creating and Removing Directories: Using mkdir, rmdir, and rm -r.
  • Renaming and Moving: Using mv to rename or move files and directories.
• Viewing and Editing Files:
  • Viewing Content: Using cat, less, more, head, and tail.
  • Searching Content: Using grep to search within files.
  • Editing Files: Basic usage of editors like nano, vim, or vi.

2. File Permissions and Ownership

• Viewing Permissions: Using ls -l to display file permissions.
• Changing Permissions: Using chmod to modify permissions.
• Changing Ownership: Using chown to change file ownership.
• Managing Groups: Using chgrp to change the group ownership of a file.

3. Shell Scripting Basics

• Creating Scripts: Writing and executing simple shell scripts.
• Shebang Line: Using the shebang (#!/bin/bash) to specify the script interpreter.
• Variables: Defining and using shell variables.
  • Environment Variables: Using environment variables (e.g., PATH, HOME).
• Control Structures:
  • Conditionals: Using if, else, elif for decision-making.
  • Loops: Using for, while, and until loops for iteration.
• Functions: Defining and using functions within shell scripts.

4. Advanced Shell Scripting

• Command Substitution: Using $(command) and backticks for command substitution.
• Pipes and Redirection: Using |, >, >>, <, and 2> for input/output redirection.
• Process Substitution: Using <(command) and >(command).
• Error Handling:
  • Exit Status: Checking and using exit statuses of commands.
  • Trap Command: Using trap to handle signals and cleanup.

5. Text Processing

• Using awk: Writing simple awk scripts for text processing.
• Using sed: Performing text substitutions and deletions with sed.
• Using cut and sort: Extracting and sorting text data.

6. File Searching and Manipulation

• Finding Files: Using find to locate files and directories based on criteria.
• Locating Files: Using locate and updatedb for quick file searches.
• Searching File Content: Using grep with regular expressions for pattern matching.

7. System Monitoring and Management

• Process Management: Using ps, top, kill, pkill, and jobs to manage processes.
• Disk Usage: Using df and du to monitor disk space usage.

8. Scheduling Tasks

• Cron Jobs: Setting up and managing cron jobs using crontab.
• At Jobs: Scheduling one-time tasks with the at command.

9. Networking Commands

• Network Status: Using ifconfig, ip, netstat, and ss to view network configurations.
• Testing Connectivity: Using ping to test network connectivity.
• DNS Lookup: Using nslookup or dig for DNS queries.

10. Script Debugging and Optimization

• Debugging: Using set -x for debugging shell scripts.
• Optimization: Writing efficient shell scripts and avoiding common pitfalls.

11. Working with Archives and Compression

• Creating and Extracting Archives: Using tar, gzip, bzip2, and zip.
• Working with Compressed Files: Extracting and compressing files.

12. Environment and Configuration

• Managing Environment Variables: Setting and exporting environment variables.
• Shell Configuration Files: Understanding and editing .bashrc, .bash_profile, .profile, etc.

13. Best Practices

• Script Readability: Writing clean, well-documented, and maintainable scripts.
• Security: Implementing security best practices in shell scripting (e.g., avoiding hard-coded passwords).

Overall, a Shell Assessment Test evaluates a candidate’s ability to efficiently use the shell environment, write and debug shell scripts, and perform various system administration tasks. It ensures that candidates have the skills to automate tasks, manage files, and perform system operations effectively using shell commands and scripts.