1DIR_COLORS(5)                 File Formats 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
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13              eval `dircolors some_path/dir_colors`
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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
31       always possible to override a global declaration by a subsequent termi‐
32       nal-specific one.
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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
44              enabled (no or none), or enabled only if the output is a  termi‐
45              nal (tty).  The default is no.
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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.
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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.  Please note that dircolors does not verify the
58              validity of these options.
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60       NORMAL color-sequence
61              Specifies the color used for normal (non-filename) text.
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63       FILE color-sequence
64              Specifies the color used for a regular file.
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66       DIR color-sequence
67              Specifies the color used for directories.
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69       LINK color-sequence
70              Specifies the color used for a symbolic link.
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72       ORPHAN color-sequence
73              Specifies the color used for  an  orphaned  symbolic  link  (one
74              which points to a nonexistent file).  If this is unspecified, ls
75              will use the LINK color instead.
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77       MISSING color-sequence
78              Specifies the color used for a missing file (a nonexistent  file
79              which nevertheless has a symbolic link pointing to it).  If this
80              is unspecified, ls will use the FILE color instead.
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82       FIFO color-sequence
83              Specifies the color used for a FIFO (named pipe).
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85       SOCK color-sequence
86              Specifies the color used for a socket.
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88       DOOR color-sequence
89              (Supported since fileutils 4.1) Specifies the color used  for  a
90              door (Solaris 2.5 and later).
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92       BLK color-sequence
93              Specifies the color used for a block device special file.
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95       CHR color-sequence
96              Specifies the color used for a character device special file.
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98       EXEC color-sequence
99              Specifies  the  color  used  for  a  file  with  the  executable
100              attribute set.
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102       LEFTCODE color-sequence
103              Specifies the left code for non-ISO 6429 terminals (see below).
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105       RIGHTCODE color-sequence
106              Specifies the right code for non-ISO 6429 terminals (see below).
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108       ENDCODE color-sequence
109              Specifies the end code for non-ISO 6429 terminals (see below).
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111       *extension color-sequence
112              Specifies the color used for any file that ends in extension.
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114        .extension color-sequence
115              Same as *.extension.  Specifies the color used for any file that
116              ends  in  .extension.   Note  that the period is included in the
117              extension, which makes it impossible to specify an extension not
118              starting  with a period, such as ~ for emacs backup files.  This
119              form should be considered obsolete.
120

ISO 6429 (ANSI) COLOR SEQUENCES

122       Most color-capable ASCII terminals today  use  ISO  6429  (ANSI)  color
123       sequences,  and many common terminals without color capability, includ‐
124       ing xterm and the widely used and cloned DEC VT100, will recognize  ISO
125       6429  color codes and harmlessly eliminate them from the output or emu‐
126       late them.  ls uses ISO 6429 codes by default, assuming colorization is
127       enabled.
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129       ISO 6429 color sequences are composed of sequences of numbers separated
130       by semicolons.  The most common codes are:
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132          0     to restore default color
133          1     for brighter colors
134          4     for underlined text
135          5     for flashing text
136         30     for black foreground
137         31     for red foreground
138         32     for green foreground
139         33     for yellow (or brown) foreground
140         34     for blue foreground
141         35     for purple foreground
142         36     for cyan foreground
143         37     for white (or gray) foreground
144         40     for black background
145         41     for red background
146         42     for green background
147         43     for yellow (or brown) background
148         44     for blue background
149         45     for purple background
150         46     for cyan background
151         47     for white (or gray) background
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153       Not all commands will work on all systems or display devices.
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155       ls uses the following defaults:
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157         NORMAL   0       Normal (non-filename) text
158         FILE     0       Regular file
159         DIR      32      Directory
160         LINK     36      Symbolic link
161         ORPHAN   undefined       Orphaned symbolic link
162         MISSING  undefined       Missing file
163         FIFO     31      Named pipe (FIFO)
164         SOCK     33      Socket
165         BLK      44;37   Block device
166         CHR      44;37   Character device
167         EXEC     35      Executable file
168
169       A few terminal programs do not recognize the default properly.  If  all
170       text gets colorized after you do a directory listing, change the NORMAL
171       and FILE codes to the numerical codes for your  normal  foreground  and
172       background colors.
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OTHER TERMINAL TYPES (ADVANCED CONFIGURATION)

175       If  you  have  a color-capable (or otherwise highlighting) terminal (or
176       printer!) which uses a different set of codes, you can still generate a
177       suitable  setup.   To  do so, you will have to use the LEFTCODE, RIGHT‐
178       CODE, and ENDCODE definitions.
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180       When  writing  out  a  filename,  ls  generates  the  following  output
181       sequence: LEFTCODE typecode RIGHTCODE filename ENDCODE, where the type‐
182       code is the color sequence that depends on the type or  name  of  file.
183       If  the  ENDCODE  is  undefined, the sequence LEFTCODE NORMAL RIGHTCODE
184       will be used instead.  The purpose  of  the  left-  and  rightcodes  is
185       merely  to  reduce  the  amount  of  typing necessary (and to hide ugly
186       escape codes away from the user).  If they are not appropriate for your
187       terminal,  you  can eliminate them by specifying the respective keyword
188       on a line by itself.
189
190       NOTE: If the ENDCODE is defined in the  global  section  of  the  setup
191       file,  it  cannot  be  undefined  in a terminal-specific section of the
192       file.  This means any NORMAL definition will have no effect.  A differ‐
193       ent  ENDCODE  can,  however,  be  specified,  which would have the same
194       effect.
195

ESCAPE SEQUENCES

197       To specify control- or blank characters in the color sequences or file‐
198       name  extensions,  either  C-style  \-escaped  notation  or  stty-style
199       ^-notation can be used.  The C-style notation  includes  the  following
200       characters:
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202         \a      Bell (ASCII 7)
203         \b      Backspace (ASCII 8)
204         \e      Escape (ASCII 27)
205         \f      Form feed (ASCII 12)
206         \n      Newline (ASCII 10)
207         \r      Carriage Return (ASCII 13)
208         \t      Tab (ASCII 9)
209         \v      Vertical Tab (ASCII 11)
210         \?      Delete (ASCII 127)
211         \nnn Any character (octal notation)
212         \xnnn        Any character (hexadecimal notation)
213         \_      Space
214         \\     Backslash (\)
215         \^      Caret (^)
216         \#      Hash mark (#)
217
218       Please  note  that  escapes  are necessary to enter a space, backslash,
219       caret, or any control character anywhere in the string, as  well  as  a
220       hash mark as the first character.
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NOTES

223       The  default  LEFTCODE and RIGHTCODE definitions, which are used by ISO
224       6429 terminals are:
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226         LEFTCODE  \e[
227         RIGHTCODE m
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229       The default ENDCODE is undefined.
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SEE ALSO

232       dircolors(1), ls(1), stty(1), xterm(1)
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FILES

235       /etc/DIR_COLORS
236              System-wide configuration file.
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238       ~/.dir_colors
239              Per-user configuration file.
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NOTES

242       This page describes the dir_colors file format as used  in  the  fileu‐
243       tils-4.1 package; other versions may differ slightly.
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247GNU fileutils 4.1                 2001-12-26                     DIR_COLORS(5)
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