`ls`: Looking Around

Once you know where you are (pwd), the next question is: what's here? ls (list) shows you the contents of a directory.

Basic usage

ls

Output (your home directory):

documents  downloads

ls lists files and directories in the current directory. Directories are usually shown in blue (depending on your terminal settings).

You can pass a path to ls to list something other than your current directory:

ls documents

Output:

notes.txt  projects

ls /home/user/downloads

ls shows two types of things:

Icon/Color	Meaning
Blue name	Directory (folder)
Plain name	File

Hidden files — files whose names start with a . — are invisible to plain ls. You will need a flag for those. That's the next lesson.

Run ls to list the contents of your home directory.