Name

ls

Synopsis

    ls [options] [names]

If no names are given, list the files in the current directory. With one or more names, list files contained in a directory name or that match a file name. The options let you display a variety of information in different formats. The most useful options include -F, -R, -a, -l, and -s. Some options don’t make sense together; e.g., -u and -c.

Tip

Modern versions of ls pay attention to the LC_COLLATE environment variable. Its default value, en_US, (in the United States) causes ls to sort in dictionary order (i.e., ignoring case). You may prefer to set LC_COLLATE to C to restore the traditional Unix behavior of sorting in ASCII order.

Common Options

-a, --all

List all files, including the normally hidden . files.

-A, --almost-all

Like -a, but exclude . and .. (the current and parent directories).

-b, --escape

Show nonprinting characters in octal.

-c, --time-ctime, --time=status

List files by inode modification time.

-C, --format=vertical

List files in columns (the default format, when displaying to a terminal device).

-d, --directory

List only the directory’s information, not its contents. (Most useful with -l and -i.)

-f

Interpret each name as a directory (files are ignored).

-F, --classify, --indicator-style=classify

Flag filenames by appending / to directories, > to doors (Solaris only), * to executable files, | to FIFOs, @ to symbolic links, and = to sockets.

-g

Like -l, but omit owner name (show group).

-h

Produce “human-readable” output, using abbreviations ...

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