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1.4.13 ls

NAME
 
ls, dir, vdir - list contents of directories

SYNOPSIS
 
ls [-abcdfgiklmnpqrstuxABCFGLNQRSUX1] [-w cols] [-T cols] [-I pattern] [-all] [-escape] [-directory] [-inode] [-kilobytes] [-numeric-uid-gid] [-no-group] [-hide- control-chars] [-reverse] [-size] [-width=cols] [-tab- size=cols] [-almost-all] [-ignore-backups] [-classify] [-file-type] [-full-time] [-ignore=pattern] [-derefer- ence] [-literal] [-quote-name] [-recursive] [-sort={none,time,size,extension}] [-format={long,verbose, commas, across, vertical, single-column}] [-time={atime,access,use,ctime,status}] [-help] [-ver- sion] [-color[={yes,no,tty}]] [-colour[={yes,no,tty}]] [name...]

DESCRIPTION

This documentation is no longer being maintained and may be inaccurate or incomplete. The Texinfo documentation is now the authoritative source.

This manual page documents the GNU version of ls. dir and vdir are versions of ls with different default output formats. These programs list each given file or directory name. Directory contents are sorted alphabetically. For ls, files are by default listed in columns, sorted vertically, if the standard output is a terminal; otherwise they are listed one per line. For dir, files are by default listed in columns, sorted vertically. For vdir, files are by default listed in long format.

OPTIONS
 
-a,
-all List all files in directories, including all files that start with `.'.
-b,
-escape Quote non-graphic characters in file names using alphabetic and octal backslash sequences like those used in C.
-c,
-time=ctime, -time=status Sort directory contents according to the files' status change time instead of the modification time. If the long listing format is being used, print the status change time instead of the modification time.
-d,
-directory List directories like other files, rather than listing their contents.
-f
Do not sort directory contents; list them in what- ever order they are stored on the disk. The same as enabling -a and -U and disabling -l, -s, and -t.
-full-time
List times in full, rather than using the standard abbreviation heuristics.
-g
Ignored; for Unix compatibility.
-i,
-inode Print the index number of each file to the left of the file name.
-k,
-kilobytes If file sizes are being listed, print them in kilobytes. This overrides the environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT.
-l,
-format=long, -format=verbose In addition to the name of each file, print the file type, permissions, number of hard links, owner name, group name, size in bytes, and timestamp (the modification time unless other times are selected). For files with a time that is more than 6 months old or more than 1 hour into the future, the times- tamp contains the year instead of the time of day.
-m,
-format=commas List files horizontally, with as many as will fit on each line, separated by commas.
-n,
-numeric-uid-gid List the numeric UID and GID instead of the names.
-p
Append a character to each file name indicating the file type.
-q,
-hide-control-chars Print question marks instead of non-graphic characters in file names.
-r,
-reverse Sort directory contents in reverse order.
-s,
-size Print the size of each file in 1K blocks to the left of the file name. If the environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT is set, 512-byte blocks are used instead.
-t,
-sort=time Sort directory contents by timestamp instead of alphabetically, with the newest files listed first.
-u,
-time=atime, -time=access, -time=use Sort directory contents according to the files' last access time instead of the modification time. If the long listing format is being used, print the last access time instead of the modification time.
-x,
-format=across, -format=horizontal List the files in columns, sorted horizontally.
-A,
-almost-all List all files in directories, except for `.' and `..'.
-B,
-ignore-backups Do not list files that end with `', unless they are given on the command line.
-C,
-format=vertical List files in columns, sorted vertically.
-F,
-classify Append a character to each file name indicating the file type. For regular files that are executable, append a `*'. The file type indicators are `/' for directories, `@' for symbolic links, `|' for FIFOs, `=' for sockets, and nothing for regular files.
-G,
-no-group Inhibit display of group information in a long format directory listing.
-L,
-dereference List the files linked to by symbolic links instead of listing the contents of the links.
-N,
-literal Do not quote file names.
-Q,
-quote-name Enclose file names in double quotes and quote non-graphic characters as in C.
-R,
-recursive List the contents of all directories recursively.
-S,
-sort=size Sort directory contents by file size instead of alphabetically, with the largest files listed first.
-U,
-sort=none Do not sort directory contents; list them in whatever order they are stored on the disk. This option is not called
-f
because the Unix ls -f option also enables -a and disables -l,
-s,
and -t. It seems useless and ugly to group those unrelated things together in one option. Since this option doesn't do that, it has a different name.
-X,
-sort=extension Sort directory contents alphabetically by file extension (characters after the last `.'); files with no extension are sorted first.
-1,
-format=single-column List one file per line.
-w,
-width cols Assume the screen is cols columns wide. The default is taken from the terminal driver if possible; otherwise the environment variable COLUMNS is used if it is set; otherwise the default is 80.
-T,
-tabsize cols Assume that each tabstop is cols columns wide. The default is 8.
-I,
-ignore pattern Do not list files whose names match the shell pat- tern pattern unless they are given on the command line. As in the shell, an initial `.' in a file- name does not match a wildcard at the start of pat- tern.
-color,
-colour, -color=yes, -colour=yes Colorize the names of files depending on the type of file. See DISPLAY COLORIZATION below.
-color=tty,
-colour=tty Same as -color but only if standard output is a terminal. This is very useful for shell scripts and command aliases, especially if your favorite pager does not support color control codes.
-color=no,
-colour=no Disables colorization. This is the default. Provided to override a previous color option.
-help
Print a usage message on standard output and exit successfully.
-version
Print version information on standard output then exit successfully.
DISPLAY COLORIZATION
 
When using the -color option, this version of ls will colorize the file names printed according to the name and type of file. By default, this colorization is by type only, and the codes used are ISO 6429 (ANSI) compliant.

You can override the default colors by defining the environment variable LS_COLORS (or LS_COLOURS). The format of this variable is reminiscent of the termcap(5) file format; a colon-separated list of expressions of the form "xx=string", where "xx" is a two-character variable name.

The variables with their associated defaults are:

no 0
Normal (non-filename) text
fi 0
Regular file
di 32
Directory
ln 36
Symbolic link
pi 31
Named pipe (FIFO)
so 33
Socket
bd 44;37
Block device
cd 44;37
Character device
ex 35
Executable file
mi (none)
Missing file (defaults to fi)
or (none)
Orphaned symbolic link (defaults to ln)
lc \e[
Left code
rc m
Right code
ec (none)
End code (replaces lc+no+rc)
You only need to include the variables you want to change from the default. File names can also be colorized based on filename extension. This is specified in the LS_COLORS variable using the syntax "*ext=string". For example, using ISO 6429 codes, to color all C-language source files blue you would specify "*.c=34". This would color all files ending in .c in blue (34) color.

Control characters can be written either in C-style \-escaped notation, or in stty-like -notation. The C- style notation adds \e for Escape, \_ for a normal space character, and \? for Delete. In addition, the \ escape character can be used to override the default interpretation of \, , : and =.

Each file will be written as <lc> <color code> <rc> <file- name> <ec>. If the <ec> code is undefined, the sequence <lc> <no> <rc> will be used instead. This is generally more convenient to use, but less general. The left, right and end codes are provided so you don't have to type common parts over and over again and to support weird terminals; you will generally not need to change them at all unless your terminal does not use ISO 6429 color sequences but a different system.

If your terminal does use ISO 6429 color codes, you can compose the type codes (i.e. all except the lc, rc, and ec codes) from numerical commands separated by semicolons. The most common commands are:

0
to restore default color
1
for brighter colors
4
for underlined text
5
for flashing text
30
for black foreground
31
for red foreground
32
for green foreground
33
for yellow (or brown) foreground
34
for blue foreground
35
for purple foreground
36
for cyan foreground
37
for white (or gray) foreground
40
for black background
41
for red background
42
for green background
43
for yellow (or brown) background
44
for blue background
45
for purple background
46
for cyan background
47
for white (or gray) background
Not all commands will work on all systems or display devices. A few terminal programs do not recognize the default end code properly. If all text gets colorized after you do a directory listing, try changing the no and fi codes from 0 to the numerical codes for your standard fore- and back- ground colors.

BUGS
 
On BSD systems, the -s option reports sizes that are half the correct values for files that are NFS-mounted from HP- UX systems. On HP-UX systems, it reports sizes that are twice the correct values for files that are NFS-mounted from BSD systems. This is due to a flaw in HP-UX; it also affects the HP-UX ls program.

If there was a single standard for the English language it would not be necessary to support redundant spellings.

EXAMPLES
 

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