Which command lists the contents of the current directory?

• A. pwd
• B. getwd
• C. cat
• D. ls

Answer: (D)

Listing what resides in the current directory is done by a command that enumerates directory entries. In Unix-like shells, that command is ls. It prints the names of files and subdirectories in the current directory, and you can enhance it with options such as -l for a detailed listing or -a to show hidden items. The other commands don’t fit because pwd shows the path of the current directory rather than its contents; getwd isn’t a standard shell command for listing files; and cat displays the contents of a file, not the list of items in a directory.