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How to see hidden files

How to see hidden files on Linux?

Show hidden files within a directory by using the ls command with the -a option.

ls -al

Use the ls command with -a combined to see hidden files on Linux. For a friendlier output, combine it with the option -l.

Hidden files

Hidden files start with a dot and are typically not displayed by default when using ls. Use ‘-al’ to show them.

# ls -al
total 90
drwxrwxr-x  7 michael michael   12 Apr  8 07:34 .
drwxrwxr-x  3 michael michael    3 Apr 28 11:19 ..
-rwxrwxr-x  1 michael michael  447 Mar 21 14:09 .editorconfig
-rwxrwxr-x  1 michael michael   17 Mar 21 14:09 .gitignore
-rwxrwxr-x  1 michael michael 1080 Mar 21 14:09 LICENSE.md
-rwxrwxr-x  1 michael michael 6923 Mar 21 14:09 README.md

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    This article has been written by our Linux security expert Michael Boelen. With focus on creating high-quality articles and relevant examples, he wants to improve the field of Linux security. No more web full of copy-pasted blog posts.

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