1DIR_COLORS(5)                  Linux User Manual                 DIR_COLORS(5)
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NAME

6       dir_colors - configuration file for dircolors(1)
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DESCRIPTION

9       The  program ls(1) uses the environment variable LS_COLORS to determine
10       the colors in which the filenames are to be displayed.   This  environ‐
11       ment variable is usually set by a command like
12
13              eval `dircolors some_path/dir_colors`
14
15       found  in a system default shell initialization file, like /etc/profile
16       or /etc/csh.cshrc.  (See also dircolors(1).)  Usually,  the  file  used
17       here  is /etc/DIR_COLORS and can be overridden by a .dir_colors file in
18       one's home directory.
19
20       This configuration file consists of several statements, one  per  line.
21       Anything  right of a hash mark (#) is treated as a comment, if the hash
22       mark is at the beginning of a line or  is  preceded  by  at  least  one
23       whitespace.  Blank lines are ignored.
24
25       The  global  section  of  the file consists of any statement before the
26       first TERM statement.  Any statement in the global section of the  file
27       is  considered valid for all terminal types.  Following the global sec‐
28       tion is one or more terminal-specific sections, preceded by one or more
29       TERM  statements which specify the terminal types (as given by the TERM
30       environment variable) the following declarations apply to.  It  is  al‐
31       ways  possible  to override a global declaration by a subsequent termi‐
32       nal-specific one.
33
34       The following statements are recognized; case is insignificant:
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36       TERM terminal-type
37              Starts a terminal-specific section and specifies which  terminal
38              it applies to.  Multiple TERM statements can be used to create a
39              section which applies for several terminal types.
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41       COLOR yes|all|no|none|tty
42              (Slackware only; ignored by GNU dircolors(1).)   Specifies  that
43              colorization  should  always  be enabled (yes or all), never en‐
44              abled (no or none), or enabled only if the output is a  terminal
45              (tty).  The default is no.
46
47       EIGHTBIT yes|no
48              (Slackware  only;  ignored by GNU dircolors(1).)  Specifies that
49              eight-bit ISO 8859 characters should be enabled by default.  For
50              compatibility  reasons,  this can also be specified as 1 for yes
51              or 0 for no.  The default is no.
52
53       OPTIONS options
54              (Slackware only; ignored by GNU  dircolors(1).)   Adds  command-
55              line options to the default ls command line.  The options can be
56              any valid ls command-line options, and should include the  lead‐
57              ing  minus sign.  Note that dircolors does not verify the valid‐
58              ity of these options.
59
60       NORMAL color-sequence
61              Specifies the color used for normal (nonfilename) text.
62
63              Synonym: NORM.
64
65       FILE color-sequence
66              Specifies the color used for a regular file.
67
68       DIR color-sequence
69              Specifies the color used for directories.
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71       LINK color-sequence
72              Specifies the color used for a symbolic link.
73
74              Synonyms: LNK, SYMLINK.
75
76       ORPHAN color-sequence
77              Specifies the color used for  an  orphaned  symbolic  link  (one
78              which points to a nonexistent file).  If this is unspecified, ls
79              will use the LINK color instead.
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81       MISSING color-sequence
82              Specifies the color used for a missing file (a nonexistent  file
83              which nevertheless has a symbolic link pointing to it).  If this
84              is unspecified, ls will use the FILE color instead.
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86       FIFO color-sequence
87              Specifies the color used for a FIFO (named pipe).
88
89              Synonym: PIPE.
90
91       SOCK color-sequence
92              Specifies the color used for a socket.
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94       DOOR color-sequence
95              (Supported since fileutils 4.1) Specifies the color used  for  a
96              door (Solaris 2.5 and later).
97
98       BLK color-sequence
99              Specifies the color used for a block device special file.
100
101              Synonym: BLOCK.
102
103       CHR color-sequence
104              Specifies the color used for a character device special file.
105
106              Synonym: CHAR.
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108       EXEC color-sequence
109              Specifies  the  color used for a file with the executable attri‐
110              bute set.
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112       SUID color-sequence
113              Specifies the color used for a file with the set-user-ID  attri‐
114              bute set.
115
116              Synonym: SETUID.
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118       SGID color-sequence
119              Specifies the color used for a file with the set-group-ID attri‐
120              bute set.
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122              Synonym: SETGID.
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124       STICKY color-sequence
125              Specifies the color used for a directory with the sticky  attri‐
126              bute set.
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128       STICKY_OTHER_WRITABLE color-sequence
129              Specifies  the  color  used for an other-writable directory with
130              the executable attribute set.
131
132              Synonym: OWT.
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134       OTHER_WRITABLE color-sequence
135              Specifies the color used for an other-writable directory without
136              the executable attribute set.
137
138              Synonym: OWR.
139
140       LEFTCODE color-sequence
141              Specifies the left code for non-ISO 6429 terminals (see below).
142
143              Synonym: LEFT.
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145       RIGHTCODE color-sequence
146              Specifies the right code for non-ISO 6429 terminals (see below).
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148              Synonym: RIGHT.
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150       ENDCODE color-sequence
151              Specifies the end code for non-ISO 6429 terminals (see below).
152
153              Synonym: END.
154
155       *extension color-sequence
156              Specifies the color used for any file that ends in extension.
157
158        .extension color-sequence
159              Same as *.extension.  Specifies the color used for any file that
160              ends in .extension.  Note that the period is included in the ex‐
161              tension,  which  makes it impossible to specify an extension not
162              starting with a period, such as ~ for emacs backup files.   This
163              form should be considered obsolete.
164
165   ISO 6429 (ANSI) color sequences
166       Most  color-capable ASCII terminals today use ISO 6429 (ANSI) color se‐
167       quences, and many common terminals without color capability,  including
168       xterm and the widely used and cloned DEC VT100, will recognize ISO 6429
169       color codes and harmlessly eliminate them from the  output  or  emulate
170       them.   ls uses ISO 6429 codes by default, assuming colorization is en‐
171       abled.
172
173       ISO 6429 color sequences are composed of sequences of numbers separated
174       by semicolons.  The most common codes are:
175
176               0   to restore default color
177               1   for brighter colors
178               4   for underlined text
179               5   for flashing text
180              30   for black foreground
181              31   for red foreground
182              32   for green foreground
183              33   for yellow (or brown) foreground
184              34   for blue foreground
185              35   for purple foreground
186              36   for cyan foreground
187              37   for white (or gray) foreground
188              40   for black background
189              41   for red background
190              42   for green background
191              43   for yellow (or brown) background
192              44   for blue background
193              45   for purple background
194              46   for cyan background
195              47   for white (or gray) background
196
197       Not all commands will work on all systems or display devices.
198
199       ls uses the following defaults:
200
201       NORMAL    0           Normal (nonfilename) text
202       FILE      0           Regular file
203       DIR       32          Directory
204       LINK      36          Symbolic link
205
206       ORPHAN    undefined   Orphaned symbolic link
207       MISSING   undefined   Missing file
208       FIFO      31          Named pipe (FIFO)
209       SOCK      33          Socket
210       BLK       44;37       Block device
211       CHR       44;37       Character device
212       EXEC      35          Executable file
213
214       A  few terminal programs do not recognize the default properly.  If all
215       text gets colorized after you do a directory listing, change the NORMAL
216       and  FILE  codes  to the numerical codes for your normal foreground and
217       background colors.
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219   Other terminal types (advanced configuration)
220       If you have a color-capable (or otherwise  highlighting)  terminal  (or
221       printer!) which uses a different set of codes, you can still generate a
222       suitable setup.  To do so, you will have to use  the  LEFTCODE,  RIGHT‐
223       CODE, and ENDCODE definitions.
224
225       When  writing  out  a  filename,  ls generates the following output se‐
226       quence: LEFTCODE typecode RIGHTCODE filename ENDCODE, where  the  type‐
227       code  is  the  color sequence that depends on the type or name of file.
228       If the ENDCODE is undefined, the  sequence  LEFTCODE  NORMAL  RIGHTCODE
229       will  be  used  instead.   The  purpose  of the left- and rightcodes is
230       merely to reduce the amount of typing necessary (and to hide  ugly  es‐
231       cape  codes  away from the user).  If they are not appropriate for your
232       terminal, you can eliminate them by specifying the  respective  keyword
233       on a line by itself.
234
235       NOTE:  If  the  ENDCODE  is  defined in the global section of the setup
236       file, it cannot be undefined in  a  terminal-specific  section  of  the
237       file.  This means any NORMAL definition will have no effect.  A differ‐
238       ent ENDCODE can, however, be specified, which would have the  same  ef‐
239       fect.
240
241   Escape sequences
242       To specify control- or blank characters in the color sequences or file‐
243       name extensions, either C-style \-escaped notation or stty-style  ^-no‐
244       tation  can be used.  The C-style notation includes the following char‐
245       acters:
246
247              \a      Bell (ASCII 7)
248              \b      Backspace (ASCII 8)
249              \e      Escape (ASCII 27)
250              \f      Form feed (ASCII 12)
251              \n      Newline (ASCII 10)
252              \r      Carriage Return (ASCII 13)
253              \t      Tab (ASCII 9)
254              \v      Vertical Tab (ASCII 11)
255              \?      Delete (ASCII 127)
256              \nnn    Any character (octal notation)
257              \xnnn   Any character (hexadecimal notation)
258              \_      Space
259              \\      Backslash (\)
260              \^      Caret (^)
261              \#      Hash mark (#)
262
263       Note that escapes are necessary to enter a space, backslash, caret,  or
264       any control character anywhere in the string, as well as a hash mark as
265       the first character.
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FILES

268       /etc/DIR_COLORS
269              System-wide configuration file.
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271       ~/.dir_colors
272              Per-user configuration file.
273
274       This page describes the dir_colors file format as used  in  the  fileu‐
275       tils-4.1 package; other versions may differ slightly.
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NOTES

278       The  default  LEFTCODE and RIGHTCODE definitions, which are used by ISO
279       6429 terminals are:
280
281              LEFTCODE    \e[
282              RIGHTCODE   m
283
284       The default ENDCODE is undefined.
285

SEE ALSO

287       dircolors(1), ls(1), stty(1), xterm(1)
288

COLOPHON

290       This page is part of release 5.10 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
291       description  of  the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
292       latest    version    of    this    page,    can     be     found     at
293       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
294
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297GNU                               2020-08-13                     DIR_COLORS(5)
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