How to show (or hide) a hidden file

GUI way to show a hidden file or folder

Hidden files and folder have names that start with a . (dot character). To toggle show/hide hidden files or folders use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+H.

in Linux and Unix systems, the files starting with . (a dot) are hidden files. To see them with the ls command, add -a or -A at your ls.

ls -a /path/to/dir

or

ls -A ~

From the manual man ls:

   -a, --all
          do not ignore entries starting with .

   -A, --almost-all
          do not list implied . and ..

The reason you can't "see" .profile" is because the ls command does not display file and directory names starting with . - this is the original device for "hiding" files in Unix.

You can still edit .profile by typing emacs .profile (or whatever editor you wish to use.)

And, you can "see" all your files by typing ls -al which asks for the "long form" (more informative) output for all specified directory or file arguments.