You are correct. It is all about how you think about things. "ls" lists files. Sure. Simple interactive command. But, thinking about this, "echo " also lists f

You are correct. It is all about how you think about things. "ls" lists files. Sure. Simple interactive command. But, thinking about this, "echo " also lists files. "ls" provides information about files. Sure. Simple interactive command. But, "stat" specifically provides information. So, I would reach for stat --format "%n %a" To get name and octal permissions. You are correct, and wrong at the same time. Easy enough to accomplish -- but using * instead of ls. Note that the "space in filename" becomes the big issue (use %N in stat format). So your conclusion is 100% correct. Thank you for your post and insight