ls: Linux Commands HowTo
ls: List information about file(s)
List information about files.
Syntax
ls [Options]... [File]...
Key
Sort entries alphabetically if none of -cftuSUX nor --sort.
-a, --all Do not hide entries starting with .
-A, --almost-all Do not list implied . and ..
-b, --escape Print octal escapes for nongraphic characters
--block-size=SIZE Use SIZE-byte blocks
-B, --ignore-backups Do not list implied entries ending with
-c Sort by change time; with -l: show ctime
-C List entries by columns
--color[=WHEN] Control whether color is used to distinguish file
types. WHEN may be `never?, `always?, or `auto?
-d, --directory List directory entries instead of contents
-D, --dired Generate output designed for Emacs? dired mode
-f Do not sort, enable -aU, disable -lst
-F, --classify Append indicator (one of */=@|) to entries
--format=WORD Across -x, commas -m, horizontal -x, long -l,
single-column -1, verbose -l, vertical -C
--full-time List both full date and full time
-g (ignored)
-G, --no-group Inhibit display of group information
-h, --human-readable Print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G)
-H, --si Likewise, but use powers of 1000 not 1024
--indicator-style=WORD Append indicator with style WORD to entry names:
none (default), classify (-F), file-type (-p)
-i, --inode Print index number of each file
-I, --ignore=PATTERN Do not list implied entries matching shell PATTERN
-k, --kilobytes Like --block-size=1024
-l Use a long listing format
-L, --dereference List entries pointed to by symbolic links
-m Fill width with a comma separated list of entries
-n, --numeric-uid-gid List numeric UIDs and GIDs instead of names
-N, --literal Print raw entry names (don?t treat e.g. control
characters specially)
-o Use long listing format without group info
-p, --file-type Append indicator (one of /=@|) to entries
-q, --hide-control-chars Print ? instead of non graphic characters
--show-control-chars Show non graphic characters as-is (default)
-Q, --quote-name Enclose entry names in double quotes
--quoting-style=WORD Use quoting style WORD for entry names:
literal, shell, shell-always, c, escape
-r, --reverse Reverse order while sorting
-R, --recursive List subdirectories recursively
-s, --size Print size of each file, in blocks
-S Sort by file size
--sort=WORD time -t, version -v, status -c
size -S, extension -X, none -U
atime -u, access -u, use -u
--time=WORD Show time as WORD instead of modification time:
atime, access, use, ctime or status;
also use this as a sort key if --sort=time
-t sort by modification time
-T, --tabsize=COLS assume tab stops at each COLS instead of 8
-u sort by last access time; with -l: show atime
-U do not sort; list entries in directory order
-v sort by version
-w, --width=COLS assume screen width instead of current value
-x list entries by lines instead of by columns
-X sort alphabetically by entry extension
-1 list one file per line
--help display help and exit
--version output version information and exit
The most common options are -a (all files) and -l (long
or details)
When output to file the files are listed one per line.
By default, colour is not used to distinguish types of files. That is equivalent
to using --color=none.
Using the --color option without the optional WHEN argument is equivalent to
using --color=always.
With --color=auto, color codes are output only if standard output is connected
to a terminal (tty).
Examples
# List the contents of your home directory
$ ls
# list everything in a vertical list:
$ ls -al
total 109
drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4096 Jun 9 21:12 ./
drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4096 Jun 9 21:12 ../
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jun 9 21:14 bin/
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 1024 Jun 9 20:32 boot/
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 36864 Jul 12 10:26 dev/
drwxr-xr-x 34 root root 4096 Jul 12 10:25 etc/
^
the first column is the file type
d = directory
f = file
# List the directories in the current directory:
$ ls -d */
# list ALL subdirectories
$ ls *
The default behaviour of ls is to only pass color control codes to tty output --color=auto.
To pipe the output to a second command complete with color codes then set --color=always
$ ls -lAXh --color=auto|less -R
A list of environment variables that affect ls (colour, column width, blocksize etc)
"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing
would appear to man as it is, infinite" - William
Blake
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