Manual Pages for UNIX Operating System command usage for man ls
User Commands LS(1)
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 C-style 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 modif-
ication of file status information) with -l: show ctime
and sort by name otherwise: sort by ctime
-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
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User Commands LS(1)
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), clas-
sify (-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
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User Commands LS(1)
-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 charac-
ters 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 pro-
gram 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
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User Commands LS(1)
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 FORMAT1FORMAT2, FOR-
MAT1 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
-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 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.
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 ter-
minal. The LS_COLORS environment variable can change the
settings. Use the dircolors command to set it.
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User Commands LS(1)
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:
General help using GNU software:
Report ls translation bugs to
COPYRIGHT
Copyright cO 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License
GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistri-
bute 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 ls invocation
should give you access to the complete manual.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
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User Commands LS(1)
___________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|____________________|______________________|_
| Availability | file/gnu-coreutils |
|____________________|______________________|_
| Interface Stability| Uncommitted |
|____________________|_____________________|
NOTES
Source for GNU coreutils is available on
http://opensolaris.org.
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