You may use: ls -d .* The -d tells ls to list a file as a directory, but not its contents. You may also: ls .[a-z]* -- Mathieu Federspiel mcf%statware.uucp at cs.orst.edu Statware orstcs!statware!mcf 260 SW Madison Avenue, Suite 109 503-753-5382 Corvallis OR 97333 USA 503-758-4666 FAX