LS(1) 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 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 derefer- ence 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 direc- tory --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 informa- tion 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 spe- cially) -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 FORMAT1FORMAT2, 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 fol- lowing: 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 con- nected 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: General help using GNU software: COPYRIGHT Copyright © 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later . 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 com- mand info coreutils 'ls invocation' should give you access to the complete manual. GNU coreutils 7.2 March 2009 LS(1)