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 is specified.

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 C−style escapes for nongraphic characters

−−block−size=SIZE

scale sizes by SIZE before printing them. E.g., '−−block−size=M' prints sizes in units of 1,048,576 bytes. 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, newest first

−C

list entries by columns

−−color[=WHEN]

colorize the output. WHEN defaults to 'always' or can be 'never' or 'auto'. More info below

−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, −−kibibytes

use 1024−byte blocks

−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, newest first

−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

−Z, −−context

print any SELinux security context of each file

−1

list one file per line

−−help

display this help and exit

−−version

output version information and exit

SIZE is an integer and optional unit (example: 10M is 10*1024*1024). Units are K, M, G, T, P, E, Z, Y (powers of 1024) or KB, MB, ... (powers of 1000).

Using color to distinguish file types is disabled both by default and with −−color=never. With −−color=auto, ls emits color codes only when standard output is connected to a terminal. The LS_COLORS environment variable can change the settings. Use the dircolors command to set it.

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/>

Report ls translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

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 'ls invocation'

should give you access to the complete manual.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2013 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.