ls and exploring

You can move around (cd) and know where you are (pwd). Now: see what's here. That's ls — list.

The basics

$ ls
notes.txt   photos   projects   todo.md

Bare ls lists the current folder's contents. Point it elsewhere without moving:

ls projects        # list what's inside projects
ls /etc            # list a folder by absolute path

Options unlock detail

Commands accept flags — usually a letter after a dash — that change behavior. ls has two you'll use forever:

ls -a       # ALL files, including hidden ones
ls -l       # LONG format: permissions, size, date
ls -la      # both at once (flags combine!)

ls -l output, decoded:

-rw-r--r--  1 ada  staff  1240  Jul 15 09:30  notes.txt
     ▲           ▲     ▲     ▲        ▲            ▲
 permissions   owner group  size    date        name

Hidden files

Files starting with a dot (.gitignore, .env, .bashrc) are hidden from a plain ls — a convention for configuration you don't want cluttering the view. ls -a reveals them:

$ ls -a
.  ..  .gitignore  notes.txt  projects

(. is this folder, .. the parent — the same ones you cd into.)