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
-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 sort by version
-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.

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 'ls invocation'
should give you access to the complete manual.

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