  We consider the motion of an overdamped particle in a periodic potential
lacking spatial symmetry under the influence of symmetric L\'evy noise, being a
minimal setup for a ``L\'evy ratchet.'' Due to the non-thermal character of the
L\'evy noise, the particle exhibits a motion with a preferred direction even in
the absence of whatever additional time-dependent forces. The examination of
the L\'evy ratchet has to be based on the characteristics of directionality
which are different from typically used measures like mean current and the
dispersion of particles' positions, since these get inappropriate when the
moments of the noise diverge. To overcome this problem, we discuss robust
measures of directionality of transport like the position of the median of the
particles displacements' distribution characterizing the group velocity, and
the interquantile distance giving the measure of the distributions' width.
Moreover, we analyze the behavior of splitting probabilities for leaving an
interval of a given length unveiling qualitative differences between the noises
with L\'evy indices below and above unity. Finally, we inspect the problem of
the first escape from an interval of given length revealing independence of
exit times on the structure of the potential.
