diff --git a/testgres/operations/remote_ops.py b/testgres/operations/remote_ops.py
index d6917c82..60161e3c 100644
--- a/testgres/operations/remote_ops.py
+++ b/testgres/operations/remote_ops.py
@@ -277,8 +277,12 @@ def listdir(self, path):
         Args:
         path (str): The path to the directory.
         """
-        result = self.exec_command("ls {}".format(path))
-        return result.splitlines()
+        command = ["ls", path]
+        output = self.exec_command(cmd=command, encoding=get_default_encoding())
+        assert type(output) == str  # noqa: E721
+        result = output.splitlines()
+        assert type(result) == list  # noqa: E721
+        return result
 
     def path_exists(self, path):
         command = ["test", "-e", path]
diff --git a/tests/test_local.py b/tests/test_local.py
index 68e7db33..3ae93f76 100644
--- a/tests/test_local.py
+++ b/tests/test_local.py
@@ -87,6 +87,17 @@ def test_exec_command_failure__expect_error(self):
         assert b"nonexistent_command" in error
         assert b"not found" in error
 
+    def test_listdir(self):
+        """
+        Test listdir for listing directory contents.
+        """
+        path = "/etc"
+        files = self.operations.listdir(path)
+        assert isinstance(files, list)
+        for f in files:
+            assert f is not None
+            assert type(f) == str  # noqa: E721
+
     def test_read__text(self):
         """
         Test LocalOperations::read for text data.
diff --git a/tests/test_remote.py b/tests/test_remote.py
index 1f771c62..2c37e2c1 100755
--- a/tests/test_remote.py
+++ b/tests/test_remote.py
@@ -222,8 +222,10 @@ def test_listdir(self):
         """
         path = "/etc"
         files = self.operations.listdir(path)
-
         assert isinstance(files, list)
+        for f in files:
+            assert f is not None
+            assert type(f) == str  # noqa: E721
 
     def test_path_exists_true__directory(self):
         """