Which file system provides system statistics and does not contain real files but provides an interface to run-time information?

• A. /proc
• B. /sys
• C. /dev
• D. /var

Answer: (A)

Run-time system information is exposed by a virtual filesystem that sits under /proc. This procfs doesn’t store real files on disk; instead, it generates content on demand from the kernel to reflect the current state of the system. Reading files like /proc/cpuinfo, /proc/meminfo, or /proc/loadavg provides up-to-the-moment statistics about CPUs, memory, and load, among other things. Tools such as top, ps, and free rely on these interfaces to display live data. In contrast, /sys is a different virtual filesystem focused on kernel objects and device attributes, /dev contains device nodes that map to hardware devices, and /var holds persistent data on disk. Therefore, /proc best matches the description of a system statistics interface that doesn’t hold real files.