LS
Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: December 2009
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NAME
ls - list directory contents
SYNOPSIS
ls
[OPTION]... [FILE]...
DESCRIPTION
List information about the FILEs (the current directory by default).
Sort entries alphabetically if none of -cftuvSUX nor --sort.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
- -a, --all
-
do not ignore entries starting with .
- -A, --almost-all
-
do not list implied . and ..
- --author
-
with -l, print the author of each file
- -b, --escape
-
print octal escapes for nongraphic characters
- --block-size=SIZE
-
use SIZE-byte blocks. See SIZE format below
- -B, --ignore-backups
-
do not list implied entries ending with ~
- -c
-
with -lt: sort by, and show, ctime (time of last
modification of file status information)
with -l: show ctime and sort by name
otherwise: sort by 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,
and do not dereference symbolic links
- -D, --dired
-
generate output designed for Emacs' dired mode
- -f
-
do not sort, enable -aU, disable -ls --color
- -F, --classify
-
append indicator (one of */=>@|) to entries
- --file-type
-
likewise, except do not append `*'
- --format=WORD
-
across -x, commas -m, horizontal -x, long -l,
single-column -1, verbose -l, vertical -C
- --full-time
-
like -l --time-style=full-iso
- -g
-
like -l, but do not list owner
- --group-directories-first
-
group directories before files.
-
augment with a --sort option, but any
use of --sort=none (-U) disables grouping
- -G, --no-group
-
in a long listing, don't print group names
- -h, --human-readable
-
with -l, print sizes in human readable format
(e.g., 1K 234M 2G)
- --si
-
likewise, but use powers of 1000 not 1024
- -H, --dereference-command-line
-
follow symbolic links listed on the command line
- --dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir
-
follow each command line symbolic link
that points to a directory
- --hide=PATTERN
-
do not list implied entries matching shell PATTERN
(overridden by -a or -A)
- --indicator-style=WORD
-
append indicator with style WORD to entry names:
none (default), slash (-p),
file-type (--file-type), classify (-F)
- -i, --inode
-
print the index number of each file
- -I, --ignore=PATTERN
-
do not list implied entries matching shell PATTERN
- -k
-
like --block-size=1K
- -l
-
use a long listing format
- -L, --dereference
-
when showing file information for a symbolic
link, show information for the file the link
references rather than for the link itself
- -m
-
fill width with a comma separated list of entries
- -n, --numeric-uid-gid
-
like -l, but list numeric user and group IDs
- -N, --literal
-
print raw entry names (don't treat e.g. control
characters specially)
- -o
-
like -l, but do not list group information
- -p, --indicator-style=slash
-
append / indicator to directories
- -q, --hide-control-chars
-
print ? instead of non graphic characters
- --show-control-chars
-
show non graphic characters as-is (default
unless program is `ls' and output is a terminal)
- -Q, --quote-name
-
enclose entry names in double quotes
- --quoting-style=WORD
-
use quoting style WORD for entry names:
literal, locale, shell, shell-always, c, escape
- -r, --reverse
-
reverse order while sorting
- -R, --recursive
-
list subdirectories recursively
- -s, --size
-
print the allocated size of each file, in blocks
- -S
-
sort by file size
- --sort=WORD
-
sort by WORD instead of name: none -U,
extension -X, size -S, time -t, version -v
- --time=WORD
-
with -l, show time as WORD instead of modification
time: atime -u, access -u, use -u, ctime -c,
or status -c; use specified time as sort key
if --sort=time
- --time-style=STYLE
-
with -l, show times using style STYLE:
full-iso, long-iso, iso, locale, +FORMAT.
FORMAT is interpreted like `date'; if FORMAT is
FORMAT1<newline>FORMAT2, FORMAT1 applies to
non-recent files and FORMAT2 to recent files;
if STYLE is prefixed with `posix-', STYLE
takes effect only outside the POSIX locale
- -t
-
sort by modification time
- -T, --tabsize=COLS
-
assume tab stops at each COLS instead of 8
- -u
-
with -lt: sort by, and show, access time
with -l: show access time and sort by name
otherwise: sort by access time
- -U
-
do not sort; list entries in directory order
- -v
-
natural sort of (version) numbers within text
- -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
SELinux options:
- --lcontext
-
Display security context. Enable -l. Lines
will probably be too wide for most displays.
- -Z, --context
-
Display security context so it fits on most
displays. Displays only mode, user, group,
security context and file name.
- --scontext
-
Display only security context and file name.
- --help
-
display this help and exit
- --version
-
output version information and exit
SIZE may be (or may be an integer optionally followed by) one of following:
KB 1000, K 1024, MB 1000*1000, M 1024*1024, and so on for G, T, P, E, Z, Y.
By default, color 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). The environment variable LS_COLORS can influence the
colors, and can be set easily by the dircolors command.
Exit status:
- 0
-
if OK,
- 1
-
if minor problems (e.g., cannot access subdirectory),
- 2
-
if serious trouble (e.g., cannot access command-line argument).
AUTHOR
Written by Richard M. Stallman and David MacKenzie.
REPORTING BUGS
Report ls bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
SEE ALSO
The full documentation for
ls
is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the
info
and
ls
programs are properly installed at your site, the command
-
info coreutils aqls invocationaq
should give you access to the complete manual.