<P> In Unix - like operating systems, any file or folder that starts with a dot character (for example, / home / user /. config), commonly called a dot file or dotfile, is to be treated as hidden--that is, the ls command does not display them unless the - a flag (ls - a) is used . In most command - line shells, wildcards will not match files whose names start with . unless the wildcard itself starts with an explicit . (although this is sometimes configurable; for example, the dotglob option in bash). </P> <P> The notion that filenames preceded by a . should be hidden in Unix was probably an unintended consequence of trying to make ls not show . and...</P> <P> A convention arose of using dotfile in the user's home directory to store per - user configuration or informational text . Early uses of this were the well - known dotfiles . profile, . login, and . cshrc, which are configuration files for the Bourne shell and C shell and shells compatible with them, and . plan and . project, both used by the finger and name commands . Many applications, from bash to desktop environments such as GNOME now store their per - user configuration this way, but the Unix / Linux freedesktop.org XDG Base Directory Specification aims to migrate user config files from dotfiles in $HOME to non-hidden files in $HOME /. config - a hidden directory . </P> <P> The Android OS, itself derived from Linux, uses empty . nomedia files to tell smartphone apps not to display or include the contents of the folder . This prevents digital photos and digital music files from being shown in picture galleries or played in MP3 player apps . This is useful to prevent downloaded voicemail files from playing between the songs in a playlist, and to keep personal photos private while still allowing those in other folders to be shared in person with friends, family, and colleagues . The . nomedia file has no effect on the filesystem or even the operating system, but instead depends entirely on each individual app to respect the presence of the different files . </P>

Display the path to the binary file of ls