CompTIA Linux+ XK0-006 (V8) Practice Question

While troubleshooting a Bash script, you notice the following lines executed from /home/student:

echo "START: $PWD"
(cd /tmp && export TEMP=$(mktemp))
echo "END:   $PWD"
echo "TEMP=[$TEMP]"

After the script finishes, the screen shows:

START: /home/student
END:   /home/student
TEMP=[]

Which explanation best accounts for this result?

  • Parentheses only group commands for redirection; the output shown is actually caused by mktemp returning an empty string.

  • The commands inside parentheses ran in a child shell, so the directory change and exported variable disappeared when that child exited.

  • cd fails inside a grouped command when combined with mktemp, so Bash ignored the directory change and variable assignment.

  • The export built-in automatically unsets variables created in a different directory, resetting both PWD and TEMP.

CompTIA Linux+ XK0-006 (V8)
Automation, Orchestration, and Scripting
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