Run ls to see what's inside the current directory over SSH. On its own it prints just the names. Add flags to get permissions, sizes, hidden files, and human-readable output: ls -la is the one you'll type most often, since it shows hidden dotfiles (like .htaccess) alongside everything else.
This is plain Linux, not a Flashcloud-specific tool, so everything here applies whether you're in an SSH session on a VPS or in a terminal app connected to shared hosting (where available). The same ideas carry over to the portal's File Manager, which is really a graphical view of the same directory tree.
The flags worth knowing
ls- bare listing, names only, alphabetical.ls -l- "long" format: permissions, owner, group, size, modification date, name. This is the format you need when you're chasing down a permissions problem.ls -a- includes hidden files (anything starting with a dot), whichlsalone skips.ls -la- combines both. This is the everyday default.ls -lh- long format with sizes in human-readable units (K, M, G) instead of raw bytes.ls -lt- sorts by modification time, newest first. Useful for finding a recently edited file or one a script recently wrote.ls -R- recurses into subdirectories, listing everything below the current one.
Flags can be combined in any order: ls -lhtR works the same as typing them separately.
Reading the long format
A line from ls -l looks like this:
-rw-r--r-- 1 user user 4096 Sep 28 14:03 index.php
The first character tells you the type: - for a regular file, d for a directory, l for a symbolic link. The next nine characters are the permission bits in three groups of three (owner, group, everyone), each group being read/write/execute. After that: link count, owner, group, size, last-modified date, and name.
Where to point it on Flashcloud
On shared and WordPress hosting, your site's files live under your account's home directory, typically with a web root folder as the entry point. ls -la after logging in is a common first move, to confirm you're looking at the right document root before editing anything. If you'd rather browse visually, the portal's File Manager tile on your service's Manage Account section does the same job. See The portal vs cPanel, what goes where for which interface to reach for.
On a VPS, you have full root access, so ls works anywhere on the filesystem, not just inside your account's directory. That's the core trade-off of VPS hosting: more visibility and control, but also more responsibility for what you're looking at. See VPS overview, what's included and where to find it for how SSH access fits into the bigger picture.
Useful combinations
ls -la | grep .htaccess- confirm a hidden config file exists before you try to edit it.ls -lhS- sort by size, largest first. Good for hunting down what's eating your disk quota; see Checking your hosting resource usage if you're trying to track down what's filling up your storage cap.ls -ld */- list only directories in the current folder, with their own permission lines rather than descending into them.
When to open a ticket
If ls shows files owned by an unexpected user, or permissions that look wrong across a whole directory tree, that's worth a second pair of eyes before you start running chmod commands to fix it. Open a ticket from the portal's Support section and a real person will look at it with you.