How do I ignore hidden files in Linux

Question

When working with Linux commands like ls, find, and rsync, I often want to ignore hidden files (.*). My questions are:

• What command-line options prevent hidden files from being listed?
• How to ensure scripts or backup tools exclude hidden files.
• How to handle cases where I need to selectively include/exclude specific dotfiles.
  Examples using bash, rsync, or find would be helpful.