The program
ls lists first its non-directory
file arguments, and then for each directory argument all listable files
contained within that directory. If no non-option arguments are present,
a default argument ‘.’ (the current directory) is assumed.
The -d option causes directories to be treated as non-directory arguments.
A file is listable when either its name does not start with ‘.’,
or the -a option is given.
Each of the lists of files (that of non-directory files, and for
each directory the list of files inside) is sorted separately
according to the collating sequence in the current locale.
When the -l option is given, each list is preceded by a summary
line giving the total size of all files in the list, measured
in 512-byte or 1024-byte blocks.
The output is to stdout, one entry per line, unless multicolumn
output is requested by the -C option. However, for output to a
terminal, it is undefined whether the output will be single-column
or multi-column. The options -1 and -C can be used to force
single-column and multi-column output, respectively.
Suffix each directory name with ‘/’, each FIFO name with ‘|’, and
each name of an executable with ‘*’.
-R
Recursively list subdirectories encountered.
-a
Include files with a name starting with ‘.’ in the listing.
-c
Use the status change time instead of the modification time
for sorting (with -t) or listing (with -l).
-d
List names of directories like other files, rather than
listing their contents.
-i
Precede the output for the file by the file serial number (i-node number).
-l
Write (in single-column format) the file mode, the number of links
to the file, the owner name, the group name, the size of the file (in bytes),
the timestamp, and the filename. The summary line uses 512-byte units.
The file types are as follows:
- for an ordinary file,
d for a directory,
b for a block special device,
c for a character special device,
l for a symbolic link,
p for a fifo,
s for a socket.
By default, the timestamp shown is that of the last modification; the
options -c and -u select the other two timestamps.
For device special files the size field is commonly replaced
by the major and minor device numbers.
-q
Output nonprintable characters in a filename as question marks.
(This is permitted to be the default for output to a terminal.)
-r
Reverse the order of the sort.
-t
Sort by the timestamp shown.
-u
Use the time of last access instead of the modification time
for sorting (with -t) or listing (with -l).
If standard output is a terminal, the output is in columns (sorted vertically).
dir (also installed as
d) is equivalent to ‘ls -C -b’; that is, files are by default listed
in columns, sorted vertically.
vdir (also installed as
v) is equivalent to ‘ls -l -b’; that is, files are by default listed
in long format.
List one file per line. This is the default for when standard output is
not a terminal.
-a, --all
List all files in directories, including all files that start with ‘.’.
-b, --escape, --quoting-style=escape
Quote nongraphic characters in filenames using alphabetic and octal
backslash sequences like those used in C. This option is the same as
-Q except that filenames are not surrounded by double-quotes.
-c, --time=ctime, --time=status
Sort directory contents according to the files’ status change time (the
‘ctime’ in the inode). If the long listing format is being
used (-l) print the status change time instead of the modification time.
-d, --directory
List names of directories like other files, rather than listing their contents.
-f
Do not sort directory contents; list them in whatever order they are
stored on the disk.
Also enables
-a and
-U and disables
-l,
--color,
-s, and
-t if they were specified before the
-f.
-g
Ignored; for Unix compatibility.
-h, --human-readable
Append a size letter, such as
M for binary megabytes (‘mebibytes’), to each size.
(New in file utils-4.0.)
-i, --inode
Print the inode number (also called the file serial number and index
number) of each file to the left of the filename. (This number uniquely
identifies each file within a particular filesystem)
-k, --kilobytes
If file sizes are being listed, print them in kilobytes.
-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 timestamp contains the year
instead of the time of day.
For each directory that is listed, preface the files with a line
‘total
blocks’, where blocks is the total disk space used by all files in that directory. By default, 1024-byte blocks are used;
if the environment variable
POSIXLY_CORRECT is set, 512-byte blocks are used (unless the
-k
option is given). The blocks computed counts each hard link separately; this is arguably a deficiency.
The permissions listed are similar to symbolic mode specifications but
ls combines multiple bits into the third character of each set of permissions
s
If the set-user-ID or set-group-ID bit and the corresponding
executable bit are both set.
S
If the set-user-ID or set-group-ID bit is set
but the corresponding executable bit is not set.
t
If the sticky bit and the other-executable bit are both set.
T
If the sticky bit is set but the other-executable bit is not set.
x
If the executable bit is set and none of the above apply.
-
Otherwise.
-m, --format=commas
List files horizontally, with as many as will fit on each line,
each separated by a comma and a space.
-n, --numeric-uid-gid
List the numeric UID and GID instead of the names.
-o
Produce long format directory listings, but don’t display group
information. It is equivalent to using
--format=long --no-group. This option is provided for compatibility with other versions of
ls.
-p, --file-type, --indicator-style=file-type
Append a character to each filename indicating the file type. This is like
-F except that executables aren’t marked.
(In fact fileutils-4.0 treats the --file-type option like --classify.)
-q, --hide-control-chars
Print question marks instead of nongraphic characters in filenames. This
is the default.
-r, --reverse
Sort directory contents in reverse order.
-s, --size
Print the size of each file in 1024-byte blocks to the left of the filename.
If the environment variable
POSIXLY_CORRECT is set, 512-byte blocks are used instead, unless the
-k option is given.
-t, --sort=time
Sort by modification time (the ‘mtime’ in the inode) 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 (the ‘atime’ in the inode). If the long
listing format is being used, print the last access time instead of the
modification time.
-v
Sort directory contents according to the files’ version. This takes into
account the fact that filenames frequently include indices or version
numbers. Standard sorting functions usually do not produce the ordering
that people expect because comparisons are made on a
character-by-character basis. The version sort addresses this problem,
and is especially useful when browsing directories that contain many
files with indices/version numbers in their names. For example:
> ls -1 > ls -1v
foo.zml-1.gz foo.zml-1.gz
foo.zml-100.gz foo.zml-12.gz
foo.zml-12.gz foo.zml-25.gz
foo.zml-25.gz foo.zml-100.gz
Note also that numeric parts with leading zeroes are considered as
fractional:
> ls -1 > ls -1v
abc-1.007.tgz abc-1.007.tgz
abc-1.012b.tgz abc-1.01a.tgz
abc-1.01a.tgz abc-1.012b.tgz
(New in file utils-4.0.)
-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.
-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. This is the default if standard
output is a terminal. It is always the default for
dir and d.
-D, --dired
With the long listing
(-l) format, print an additional line after the main output:
//DIRED//BEG1 END1 BEG2 END2 ...
The
BEGn and ENDn are unsigned integers which record the byte position of
the beginning and end of each filename in the output. This makes it easy
for Emacs to find the names, even when they contain unusual characters
such as space or newline, without fancy searching.
If directories are being listed recursively
(-R), output a similar line after each subdirectory:
//SUBDIRED//BEG1 END1 ...
-F, --classify, --indicator-style=classify
Append a character to each filename 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.
-H, --si
Do the same as for
-h, but use the official SI units (with powers of 1000 instead of 1024,
so that M stands for 1000000 instead of 1048576).
(New in fileutils-4.0.)
-I, --ignore=pattern
Do not list files whose names match the shell pattern
pattern (not regular expression) unless they are given on the command line. As
in the shell, an initial ‘.’ in a filename does not match a wildcard at
the start of
pattern. For simple-minded root-kits: add LS_OPTIONS="$LS_OPTIONS -I mystuff"
in /etc/profile or so, to hide your directories.
-L, --dereference
List the file information corresponding to the referrents of symbolic
links rather for the links themselves.
-N, --literal
Do not quote filenames.
-Q, --quote-name, --quoting-style=c
Enclose filenames in double quotes and quote nongraphic 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.
-T, --tabsize cols
Assume that each tabstop is
cols columns wide. The default is 8 and can be overridden by
the environment variable TABSIZE when POSIXLY_CORRECT is not set.
ls uses tabs where possible in the output, for efficiency. If
cols is zero, do not use tabs at all.
-U, --sort=none
Do not sort directory contents; list them in whatever order they are
stored on the disk. (The difference between
-U and -f is that the former doesn’t disable or enable options.) This is especially
useful when listing very large directories, since not doing any sorting
can be noticeably faster.
-X, --sort=extension
Sort directory contents alphabetically by file extension (characters
after the last ‘.’); files with no extension are sorted first.
--block-size=size
Print sizes in blocks of
size bytes.
(New in file utils-4.0.)
--color[=when]
Specify whether to use color for distinguishing file types.
Colors are specified using the LS_COLORS environment variable.
For information on how to set this variable, see
dircolors(1).
when may be omitted, or one of:
none
Do not use color at all. This is the default.
auto
Only use color if standard output is a terminal.
always
Always use color. Specifying
--color and no
when is equivalent to
--color=always.
--full-time
List times in full, rather than using the standard abbreviation
heuristics. The format is the same as
date(1)’s
default; it’s not possible to change this, but you can extract out the
date string with
cut(1)
and then pass the result to ‘date -d’.
This is most useful because the time output includes the seconds.
(Unix filesystems store file timestamps only to the nearest
second, so this option shows all the information there is.) For
example, this can help when you have a Makefile that is not
regenerating files properly.
--quoting-style=word
Use style
word to quote output names. The
word should be one of the following:
literal
Output names as-is. This is the default behavior of
ls.
shell
Quote names for the shell if they contain shell metacharacters or
would cause ambiguous output.
shell-always
Quote names for the shell, even if they would normally not
require quoting.
c
Quote names as for a C language string; this is the same as the
-Q option.
escape
Quote as with
c except omit the surrounding double-quote characters; this is the same
as the
-b option.
A default value for this option can be specified with the environment
variable QUOTING_STYLE. (See
ENVIRONMENT below.)
--show-control-chars
Print nongraphic characters as-is in filenames. This is the
default unless the output is a terminal and the program is
ls.
The variable POSIXLY_CORRECT determines the choice of unit.
If it is not set, then the variable TABSIZE determines the
number of chars per tab stop.
The variable COLUMNS (when it contains the representation of a decimal
integer) determines the output column width (for use with the -C option).
Filenames must not be truncated to make them fit a multi-column output.
The variables LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES and LC_TIME
have the usual meaning.
The variable TZ gives the time zone for time strings written by
ls. The variable LS_COLORS is used to specify the colors used.
The variable LS_OPTIONS gives default options.
The variable QUOTING_STYLE is used to specify the default value for the
--quoting-style option. It currently defaults to
literal, though the authors have warned that this default may change to
shell in some future version of
ls.
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,
ls 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.
