The character * is called a wildcard, and will match against none or more character(s) in a file (or directory) name. For example, in your linuxstuff directory, type
% ls list*
This will list all files in the current directory starting with list....
Try typing
% ls *list
This will list all files in the current directory ending with ....list
The character ? will match exactly one character.
So ls ?ouse will match files like house and mouse,
but not grouse.
Try typing
% ls ?list
There are on-line manuals which gives information about most commands. The manual pages tell you which options a particular command can take, and how each option modifies the behaviour of the command. Type man command to read the manual page for a particular command.
For example, to find out more about the wc (word count) command, type
% man wc
Alternatively
% whatis wc
gives a one-line description of the command, but omits any information about options etc.
* |
match any number of characters |
? |
match one character |
man command |
read the online manual page for a command |
whatis command |
brief description of a command |
Tong Yin 5th-Feb 2017