Files
Overview
The UNIX directory
hierarchy
Filesystems
Manipulating files
Creating
directories
Creating files
links
'Dot' files
Protecting files
Groups
File access
control
Changing
privileges
File
contents
Text files
Comparing
files
Filtering
files
Non-text files
Printing
files
File archives and file
compression
Other relevant commands
Summary
Exercises
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'Dot' files
Change to your home directory, and type ls -a
('all') and you will see displayed the names of the files in that
directory including some other names that ls on its
own does not produce. These 'hidden' files all have names beginning
with a dot (.). You will recognise the name of the
current directory dot and the parent directory
dotdot, but some others will also be there. Typically you
may expect .profile, .mailrc and
.xinitrc; these files are all used by a UNIX utility
to enable you to customise that utility, and many of them end in
rc ('run commands'). When a utility requires such a
file, the manual page explains what data it should contain.
Never delete or edit a dot file unless you know what it
should contain, even if it's empty - that's why ls
does not normally list them, to prevent you accidentally changing
them.
If you wish to access a dot file, the procedure is exactly the
same as for any other file - it's just ls that hides
them.
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