FG

What does the asterisk mean after a filename when you type `ls -l`?

Fresh3 days ago
Mar 15, 2026262098 views
Confidence Score1%
1%

Problem

I've done an inside a directory, and my files are displaying like this : What does that asterisk mean? I'm also unable to run a particular file, as follows: EDIT : I'm trying to get Eclipse to use , but it keeps complaining the files does not exist, yet it is here?

Error Output

james@nevada:~/development/tools/android-sdk-linux_86/tools$ ll
total 9512
drwxr-xr-x 3 james james    4096 2010-05-07 19:48 ./
drwxr-xr-x 6 james james    4096 2010-08-21 20:43 ../
-rwxr-xr-x 1 james james  341773 2010-05-07 19:47 adb*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 james james    3636 2010-05-07 19:47 android*
-rw…

Unverified for your environment

Select your OS to check compatibility.

1 Fix

Canonical Fix
Unverified Fix
New Fix – Awaiting Verification

Fix for: What does the asterisk mean after a filename when you type `ls -l`?

Low Risk

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams has already explained about the : It means that the file is executable. A classifier is shown when -F is passed to ls via the command line or otherwise. As for the executable-looking that you can't actually execute, this can happen when the dynamic loader requested by doesn't exist. You can check what kind of file is with the command , and check what dynamic loader and libraries it needs with (any line showing “not found” is something you need to install). Given the name …

Awaiting Verification

Be the first to verify this fix

Sign in to verify this fix

Environment