/etc/passwd and /etc/shadow in Linux CLI - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the command to display the contents of the /etc/passwd file.

Linux CLI

cat [1]

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A/etc/shadow

B/etc/hosts

C/etc/group

D/etc/passwd

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using /etc/shadow instead of /etc/passwd, which requires root permission to view.

Trying to view /etc/group or /etc/hosts which are different files.

The /etc/passwd file contains user account information and can be viewed with 'cat /etc/passwd'.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the command to safely view the /etc/shadow file with root privileges.

Linux CLI

sudo [1] /etc/shadow

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Atouch

Bls

Ccat

Decho

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'ls' which lists files but does not show contents.

Using 'echo' which prints text but not file contents.

Using 'touch' which creates or updates files.

The 'cat' command displays file contents. 'sudo cat /etc/shadow' shows the shadow file with root rights.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the command to list users from /etc/passwd by extracting the first field (username).

Linux CLI

cut -d: -f[1] /etc/passwd

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A1

B3

C2

D4

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Choosing field 2 or 3 which contain other data like user ID or group ID.

Using wrong delimiter or field number.

Usernames are in the first field of /etc/passwd, separated by colons, so use '-f1'.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to create a command that counts the number of user accounts in /etc/passwd.

Linux CLI

cat /etc/passwd | [1] -d: -f1 | [2] -l

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Acut

Bwc

Csort

Duniq

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'sort' or 'uniq' instead of counting lines.

Not extracting the correct field before counting.

Use 'cut' to extract usernames and 'wc -l' to count lines (users).

5fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to create a command that lists usernames from /etc/passwd who have a user ID greater than 1000.

Linux CLI

awk -F: '[1] $3 [2] 1000  print $1' /etc/passwd

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A($3

B>

C)

D<

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Omitting parentheses causing syntax errors.

Using '<' instead of '>' which filters wrong users.

Not printing the first field ($1) which is the username.

The awk condition needs parentheses around '$3 > 1000' to filter user IDs greater than 1000 and print usernames.