What does it mean to 'list all files and directories'?

Frequently Asked Questions Command Line FAQ
1

Question

This exercise asks us to ‘list all files and directories in the working directory.’ What does that mean?

Answer

So far, we’ve learned how to use two key commands: ls and pwd. If we use ls, it’ll show all files and directories in the directory you’re currently in – also known as the ‘working directory.’

By default, the ls command will display all directories (folders), files, programs, etc. Specifically, all the directories and files that aren’t hidden. To include hidden stuff, we can do ls -a, and anything you see prefaced with a period is a hidden file, like .bashrc.

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2

What are hidden files and stuff?

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3

All the files and directories which names starts with . are not listed out when you use ls command without additional options and that files and directories are called hidden. Hidden files and directories are commonly used for purposes of storing configuration information.

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4

why not include this command in lesson with example?? Is this info necessary?

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5

My guess is that the purpose of this course is to introduce and give one an overarching view of the tools available for command line and discuss its purpose.

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It means list of all the files or directories in the current working directory.
‘ls’ command is used to accomplish this.