How to view & copy hidden files & folders in Linux

Question

Would need some help on viewing & Moving the Hidden Files & Folders.

Answer 1

Hidden files are just files with a . in the beginning of their name.

To list files, including hidden ones from a command line:

ls -a

To list only hidden files:

ls -a .*

Hidden files can be moved/copied/removed just like any other file:

mv .log .log_old # move a file
cp .log .log_backup # copy a file
rm .log # remove a file

Answer 2

If you are using Gnome and the Nautilus file manager, you can select "Show Hidden Files" in the "View" menu. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl-H.

On the command line the option to "ls" is "-a" to see hidden files (the ones with '.' as the first character in the filename).

Answer 3

Following up on Trey's answer, if you want to copy everything in a given directory, including the hidden files, you should be fine with:

  cp -r /something/ /somenewplace/