Question

Shell variables are of ____ types.

(a) 1

(b) 3

(c) 2

(d) 4

The question was asked during an interview.

Query is from Shell Variables topic in chapter Customizing the Environment & More File Attributes of Unix

Answer 1

Right choice is (c) 2

The explanation is: Shell variables are of two types –local and environment. For example, PATH, HOME and SHELL are environment variables. They are called so because they are available in the user’s total environment whereas local variables are more restricted in scope.