1LS(1)                            User Commands                           LS(1)
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NAME

6       ls - list directory contents
7

SYNOPSIS

9       ls [OPTION]... [FILE]...
10

DESCRIPTION

12       List  information  about  the FILEs (the current directory by default).
13       Sort entries alphabetically if none of -cftuvSUX nor --sort  is  speci‐
14       fied.
15
16       Mandatory  arguments  to  long  options are mandatory for short options
17       too.
18
19       -a, --all
20              do not ignore entries starting with .
21
22       -A, --almost-all
23              do not list implied . and ..
24
25       --author
26              with -l, print the author of each file
27
28       -b, --escape
29              print C-style escapes for nongraphic characters
30
31       --block-size=SIZE
32              with  -l,  scale  sizes  by  SIZE  when  printing  them;   e.g.,
33              '--block-size=M'; see SIZE format below
34
35       -B, --ignore-backups
36              do not list implied entries ending with ~
37
38       -c     with -lt: sort by, and show, ctime (time of last modification of
39              file status information); with -l: show ctime and sort by  name;
40              otherwise: sort by ctime, newest first
41
42       -C     list entries by columns
43
44       --color[=WHEN]
45              color the output WHEN; more info below
46
47       -d, --directory
48              list directories themselves, not their contents
49
50       -D, --dired
51              generate output designed for Emacs' dired mode
52
53       -f     list all entries in directory order
54
55       -F, --classify[=WHEN]
56              append indicator (one of */=>@|) to entries WHEN
57
58       --file-type
59              likewise, except do not append '*'
60
61       --format=WORD
62              across  -x, commas -m, horizontal -x, long -l, single-column -1,
63              verbose -l, vertical -C
64
65       --full-time
66              like -l --time-style=full-iso
67
68       -g     like -l, but do not list owner
69
70       --group-directories-first
71              group directories before files; can be augmented with  a  --sort
72              option, but any use of --sort=none (-U) disables grouping
73
74       -G, --no-group
75              in a long listing, don't print group names
76
77       -h, --human-readable
78              with -l and -s, print sizes like 1K 234M 2G etc.
79
80       --si   likewise, but use powers of 1000 not 1024
81
82       -H, --dereference-command-line
83              follow symbolic links listed on the command line
84
85       --dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir
86              follow  each  command line symbolic link that points to a direc‐
87              tory
88
89       --hide=PATTERN
90              do not list implied entries matching shell  PATTERN  (overridden
91              by -a or -A)
92
93       --hyperlink[=WHEN]
94              hyperlink file names WHEN
95
96       --indicator-style=WORD
97              append indicator with style WORD to entry names: none (default),
98              slash (-p), file-type (--file-type), classify (-F)
99
100       -i, --inode
101              print the index number of each file
102
103       -I, --ignore=PATTERN
104              do not list implied entries matching shell PATTERN
105
106       -k, --kibibytes
107              default to 1024-byte blocks for file  system  usage;  used  only
108              with -s and per directory totals
109
110       -l     use a long listing format
111
112       -L, --dereference
113              when showing file information for a symbolic link, show informa‐
114              tion for the file the link references rather than for  the  link
115              itself
116
117       -m     fill width with a comma separated list of entries
118
119       -n, --numeric-uid-gid
120              like -l, but list numeric user and group IDs
121
122       -N, --literal
123              print entry names without quoting
124
125       -o     like -l, but do not list group information
126
127       -p, --indicator-style=slash
128              append / indicator to directories
129
130       -q, --hide-control-chars
131              print ? instead of nongraphic characters
132
133       --show-control-chars
134              show nongraphic characters as-is (the default, unless program is
135              'ls' and output is a terminal)
136
137       -Q, --quote-name
138              enclose entry names in double quotes
139
140       --quoting-style=WORD
141              use quoting style WORD for entry names: literal, locale,  shell,
142              shell-always,   shell-escape,   shell-escape-always,  c,  escape
143              (overrides QUOTING_STYLE environment variable)
144
145       -r, --reverse
146              reverse order while sorting
147
148       -R, --recursive
149              list subdirectories recursively
150
151       -s, --size
152              print the allocated size of each file, in blocks
153
154       -S     sort by file size, largest first
155
156       --sort=WORD
157              sort by WORD instead of name: none (-U), size (-S),  time  (-t),
158              version (-v), extension (-X), width
159
160       --time=WORD
161              change  the  default  of  using  modification times; access time
162              (-u): atime, access, use; change time (-c): ctime, status; birth
163              time: birth, creation;
164
165              with  -l,  WORD determines which time to show; with --sort=time,
166              sort by WORD (newest first)
167
168       --time-style=TIME_STYLE
169              time/date format with -l; see TIME_STYLE below
170
171       -t     sort by time, newest first; see --time
172
173       -T, --tabsize=COLS
174              assume tab stops at each COLS instead of 8
175
176       -u     with -lt: sort by, and show, access time; with -l:  show  access
177              time  and  sort  by name; otherwise: sort by access time, newest
178              first
179
180       -U     do not sort; list entries in directory order
181
182       -v     natural sort of (version) numbers within text
183
184       -w, --width=COLS
185              set output width to COLS.  0 means no limit
186
187       -x     list entries by lines instead of by columns
188
189       -X     sort alphabetically by entry extension
190
191       -Z, --context
192              print any security context of each file
193
194       --zero end each output line with NUL, not newline
195
196       -1     list one file per line
197
198       --help display this help and exit
199
200       --version
201              output version information and exit
202
203       The SIZE argument is an integer and  optional  unit  (example:  10K  is
204       10*1024).   Units  are  K,M,G,T,P,E,Z,Y  (powers  of 1024) or KB,MB,...
205       (powers of 1000).  Binary prefixes can be used, too: KiB=K, MiB=M,  and
206       so on.
207
208       The  TIME_STYLE  argument  can  be  full-iso, long-iso, iso, locale, or
209       +FORMAT.  FORMAT is interpreted like in date(1).   If  FORMAT  is  FOR‐
210       MAT1<newline>FORMAT2, then FORMAT1 applies to non-recent files and FOR‐
211       MAT2 to recent files.  TIME_STYLE prefixed with 'posix-'  takes  effect
212       only  outside  the POSIX locale.  Also the TIME_STYLE environment vari‐
213       able sets the default style to use.
214
215       The WHEN argument defaults to  'always'  and  can  also  be  'auto'  or
216       'never'.
217
218       Using  color  to distinguish file types is disabled both by default and
219       with --color=never.  With --color=auto, ls emits color codes only  when
220       standard  output is connected to a terminal.  The LS_COLORS environment
221       variable can change the settings.  Use the dircolors(1) command to  set
222       it.
223
224   Exit status:
225       0      if OK,
226
227       1      if minor problems (e.g., cannot access subdirectory),
228
229       2      if serious trouble (e.g., cannot access command-line argument).
230

AUTHOR

232       Written by Richard M. Stallman and David MacKenzie.
233

REPORTING BUGS

235       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
236       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
237
239       Copyright  ©  2022  Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU
240       GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
241       This is free software: you are free  to  change  and  redistribute  it.
242       There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
243

SEE ALSO

245       dircolors(1)
246
247       Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ls>
248       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) ls invocation'
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252GNU coreutils 9.1                January 2023                            LS(1)
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