Linux server with . and .. directories

Question

Why does each folder directory in my linux server has . and .. directories with same files ? is it user error or by design ?

Example: I have folder bladelogic with list of these files along with . and .. directories which contains same files.

Answer 1

. refers to the current directory and .. refers to the parent directory. This is by design.

Answer 2

this is by design. . refers to the current directory and .. refers to the directory "above" the current one. Specifically, suppose you're in a directory /foo/bar/wizzle . If you do an ls in there you'll see . , which refers to /foo/bar/wizzle , and a .. which refers to /foo/bar . You can check this by running ls . (which will give you the same result as just ls ) and ls .. which will show you the contents fo