Important Linux Topics for Interviews
1. Linux File System Basics
- Directory structure (/home, /etc, /var, /bin, etc.)
- Relative vs absolute paths
- File types (regular, directory, symbolic link, etc.)
2. File & Directory Commands
- ls, cd, pwd, mkdir, rmdir
- cp, mv, rm, touch, find
- tree, stat, file
3. Permissions & Ownership
- chmod, chown, chgrp
- Permission symbols (rwx, numeric like 755)
- umask, sticky bit, SUID/SGID
4. User & Group Management
- useradd, usermod, userdel
- groupadd, groupdel, gpasswd
- passwd, whoami, id, groups
- /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group
5. Process Management
- ps, top, htop, nice, renice
- kill, killall, xkill, pkill
- jobs, bg, fg, &, nohup
6. Package Management
- Ubuntu/Debian: apt, dpkg
- RedHat/CentOS: yum, dnf, rpm
7. Disk & File System Commands
Important Linux Topics for Interviews
- df, du, mount, umount, fdisk, lsblk
- blkid, mkfs, tune2fs
- fstab, swap space basics
8. Networking Commands
- ip, ifconfig, ping, traceroute, netstat, ss
- nslookup, dig, curl, wget
- Ports, protocols, firewall (ufw, iptables basics)
9. System Services & Logs
- systemctl, service, journalctl
- cron, at (job scheduling)
- Important logs: /var/log/syslog, /var/log/auth.log
10. Shell Scripting (Very Important!)
- bash scripting basics
- Variables, loops, conditions, functions
- read, echo, expr, test, case, && ||
- Redirection: >, >>, <, 2>, |, tee
11. Environment & Startup
- .bashrc, .bash_profile, .profile
- env, export, set, unset, alias
12. Searching & Text Processing
- grep, awk, sed, cut, sort, uniq, tr, wc
- head, tail, less, more
- Regular expressions (regex)
13. Compression & Archiving
- tar, zip, unzip, gzip, gunzip, xz
Important Linux Topics for Interviews
14. Important Files & Paths
- /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group
- /etc/hosts, /etc/fstab, /etc/crontab
- $HOME, $PATH, $USER
15. Bonus: Git + SSH + Linux
- Generate SSH keys: ssh-keygen
- ssh, scp, rsync
- Git basics (clone, add, commit, push, etc.) on Linux