Running scripts in Bash Scripting - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What is the output of this script execution command?

You have a script named hello.sh with the following content:

#!/bin/bash
echo "Hello, world!"

What will be the output if you run bash hello.sh in the terminal?

Bash Scripting

#!/bin/bash
echo "Hello, world!"

A bash: hello.sh: command not found

B Hello, world!

C No output, script runs silently

D Error: Permission denied

💡 Hint

Running a script with bash executes the commands inside it and prints output.

Using bash hello.sh runs the script with bash interpreter, printing the echo output.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What happens when you run a script without execute permission?

You have a script myscript.sh with content:

#!/bin/bash
echo "Run me!"

The file does NOT have execute permission. What happens if you run ./myscript.sh?

Bash Scripting

#!/bin/bash
echo "Run me!"

A bash: ./myscript.sh: Permission denied

B Run me!

C No output, script runs silently

D bash: myscript.sh: command not found

💡 Hint

Trying to run a file without execute permission causes a permission error.

Without execute permission, the shell refuses to run the script directly and shows a permission denied error.

📝 Syntax

advanced

Which command correctly runs a script named script.sh located in the current directory?

You want to run script.sh from the terminal. Which command will run it correctly assuming it has execute permission?

A script.sh

B bash ./script.sh

C /script.sh

D ./script.sh

💡 Hint

Scripts in the current directory need a path prefix to run directly.

To run a script in the current directory, you must prefix it with ./ to specify the path.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this script fail to run with ./runme.sh?

Script runme.sh content:

echo "Start"
echo "Done"

You try ./runme.sh but get:
bash: ./runme.sh: Permission denied
What is the cause?

A The script lacks execute permission

B The script has a syntax error

C The script file is empty

D The script is missing the shebang line

💡 Hint

Permission denied means the OS won't let you run the file.

Without execute permission, the OS blocks running the script even if the content is valid.

🚀 Application

expert

What is the output of this script execution with environment variable?

Given the script envtest.sh:

#!/bin/bash
echo "User is: $USER"

You run:
USER=guest ./envtest.sh
What is the output?

Bash Scripting

#!/bin/bash
echo "User is: $USER"

A User is: (empty line)

B User is: $USER

C User is: guest

D bash: ./envtest.sh: Permission denied

💡 Hint

Setting an environment variable before a command overrides it inside the script.

The USER variable is set to guest only for the script execution, so it prints that value.