What's In Your Directory?

ls

The ls command lets you list the files that are stored in the directory you specify. The ls command by itself (with no command-line arguments) will list the files located in the current directory. It will list all files and directories, except for those that begin with a decimal (these are considered to be "hidden" files).

$ ls
  123     docs     empl     utils

 $ _

In the example above, ls shows you that there are a few files located in your current directory. However, at this time, you cannot tell whether these are actually files or directories. Now try ls with the "-a" option, which tells ls to display all files.

$ ls -a

.   .dtclass  .mailrc .profile  .vtlrc.els  docs
..  .dtinfo .olinitrc .sh_history .xsession empl
.Xdefaults  .dtprops  .olsetup  .vtlrc    123   utils

$ _