Reading data after removing one hard link | LinuC Level 1 101 Exam original practice question

1.02.3Basic

data and data-backup are hard links to one regular file with link count 2.

Run rm data.

What is true about data-backup?

Hint 1: Focus on the requirement

Think of removing one directory entry from an inode rather than deleting a pathname target.

Hint 2: Key terms

Review the short link and path-resolution definitions before comparing the choices.

unlink: The filesystem operation that removes a name-to-inode association.
Hard-link removal: Removing one name and decrementing the inode's link count.
Link count: The number of remaining names that reference an inode.
Data reclamation: Releasing content after no links and no open references remain.

Detailed explanation

Incorrectリンク切れとなり内容を読めない

Incorrect. The inode remains while data-backup refers to it.

Correct同じ内容を引き続き読め、リンク数は1になる

Correct. data-backup still reads the same data and the count is now 1.

Incorrect自動的にシンボリックリンクへ変換される

Incorrect. A hard link does not become symbolic automatically.

Incorrect内容は別inodeへ自動コピーされる

Incorrect. The filesystem does not copy data to a new inode automatically.

Try it yourself

An example you can run in a temporary verification environment.

tmp=$(mktemp -d); printf payload >"$tmp/data"; ln "$tmp/data" "$tmp/data-backup"; rm "$tmp/data"; printf '%s %s\n' "$(cat "$tmp/data-backup")" "$(stat -c '%h' "$tmp/data-backup")"; rm -rf "$tmp"

Expected result

payload 1

Key points

rm unlinks a name
The remaining hard link preserves data
The link count decreases

Notes

Environment: Linux / GNU coreutils 9.x / 一時ファイル
Use disposable files and directories for link experiments.
Link behavior can differ for special filesystem objects and cross-filesystem operations.

Foundation review

Place the operation

Deleting one hard-link name leaves the content reachable through another name until the final reference is gone.

Check the side effect

Remove one name in a temporary directory and read the remaining name.

Question IDKL-101-415

EnvironmentLinux / GNU coreutils 9.x / 一時ファイル

Last technical review2026-08-13

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