File names that begin with a period (.)
are called dot or hidden files. Hidden files are frequently used to
customize a user's work environment. They are not shown by default
because they are infrequently edited. The current directory link (.)
and parent directory link (..) are also hidden and will not be
displayed either since they begin with a dot. Using the
ls
command
with the -a (all) option will list all files in a directory, including
hidden (.) files.
Note that the -a option is lower case.
The following example shows the result
of the ls -a
command while in your home directory (/home/user2).
Note: The current and parent
directory links and the .kshrc file, which is a user environment
file, are normally hidden files.
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