For example, the most commonly used special character is asterisk, * , meaning “zero or more characters”. When you type a command like ls a* , the shell finds all filenames in the current directory starting with a and passes them to the ls command.

What does asterisk mean in terminal?

The asterisk * is one of those special characters, it is part of the pattern matching notation and is used for filename expansion. In other words, commands such as echo *. txt will replace the pattern with the files that the pattern matches.

What does it mean when you see a * asterisks next to your file name?

2 Answers. * means that the file is executable. … Also, for regular files that are executable, append `*’. The file type indicators are `/’ for directories, `@’ for symbolic links, `|’ for FIFOs, `=’ for sockets, `>’ for doors, and nothing for regular files.