1ls(1) User Commands ls(1)
2
3
4
6 ls - list contents of directory
7
9 /usr/bin/ls [-aAbcCdeEfFghHiklLmnopqrRsStuUwvVx1@]
10 [-/ c | v] [-% atime | crtime | ctime | mtime | all]
11 [--block-size size] [--color[=when]] [--file-type]
12 [--si] [--time-style style] [file]...
13
14
15 /usr/xpg4/bin/ls [-aAbcCdeEfFghHiklLmnopqrRsStuUwvVx1@]
16 [-/ c | v] [-% atime | crtime | ctime | mtime | all]
17 [--block-size size] [--color[=when]] [--file-type]
18 [--si] [--time-style style] [file]...
19
20
21 /usr/xpg6/bin/ls [-aAbcCdeEfFghHiklLmnopqrRsStuUwvVx1@]
22 [-/ c | v] [-% atime | crtime | ctime | mtime | all]
23 [--block-size size] [--color[=when]] [--file-type]
24 [--si] [--time-style style] [file]...
25
26
28 For each file that is a directory, ls lists the contents of the direc‐
29 tory. For each file that is an ordinary file, ls repeats its name and
30 any other information requested. The output is sorted alphabetically by
31 default. When no argument is given, the current directory (.) is
32 listed. When several arguments are given, the arguments are first
33 sorted appropriately, but file arguments appear before directories and
34 their contents.
35
36
37 There are three major listing formats. The default format for output
38 directed to a terminal is multi−column with entries sorted down the
39 columns. The -1 option allows single column output and -m enables
40 stream output format. In order to determine output formats for the -C,
41 -x, and -m options, ls uses an environment variable, COLUMNS, to deter‐
42 mine the number of character positions available on one output line. If
43 this variable is not set, the terminfo(4) database is used to determine
44 the number of columns, based on the environment variable, TERM. If this
45 information cannot be obtained, 80 columns are assumed. If the -w
46 option is used, the argument overrides any other column width.
47
48
49 The mode printed when the -e, -E, -g, -l, -n, -o, -v, -V, or -@ option
50 is in effect consists of eleven characters. The first character can be
51 one of the following:
52
53 d
54
55 The entry is a directory.
56
57
58 D
59
60 The entry is a door.
61
62
63 l
64
65 The entry is a symbolic link.
66
67
68 b
69
70 The entry is a block special file.
71
72
73 c
74
75 The entry is a character special file.
76
77
78 p
79
80 The entry is a FIFO (or "named pipe") special file.
81
82
83 P
84
85 The entry is an event port.
86
87
88 s
89
90 The entry is an AF_UNIX address family socket.
91
92
93 −
94
95 The entry is an ordinary file.
96
97
98
99 The next 9 characters are interpreted as three sets of three bits each.
100 The first set refers to the owner's permissions; the next to permis‐
101 sions of others in the user-group of the file; and the last to all oth‐
102 ers. Within each set, the three characters indicate permission to read,
103 to write, and to execute the file as a program, respectively. For a
104 directory, execute permission is interpreted to mean permission to
105 search the directory for a specified file. The character after permis‐
106 sions is an ACL or extended attributes indicator. This character is an
107 @ if extended attributes are associated with the file and the -@ option
108 is in effect. Otherwise, this character is a plus sign (+) character if
109 a non-trivial ACL is associated with the file or a space character if
110 not.
111
112
113 If -/ and/or -% are in effect, then the extended system attributes are
114 printed when filesystem supports extended system attributes. The dis‐
115 play looks as follows:
116
117 $ls -/ c file
118 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 May 10 14:17 file
119 {AHRSadim-u}
120
121 $ls -/ v file
122 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 May 10 14:17 file
123 {archive,hidden,readonly,system,appendonly\
124 nodump,immutable, av_modified,\
125 noav_quarantined,nounlink}
126
127 $ls -l -% all file
128 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 May 10 14:17 file
129 timestamp: atime Jun 25 12:56:44 2007
130 timestamp: ctime May 10 14:20:23 2007
131 timestamp: mtime May 10 14:17:56 2007
132 timestamp: crtime May 10 14:17:56 2007
133
134
135
136
137 See the option descriptions of the -/ and -% option for details.
138
139
140 ls -l (the long list) prints its output as follows for the POSIX
141 locale:
142
143 -rwxrwxrwx+ 1 smith dev 10876 May 16 9:42 part2
144
145
146
147
148 Reading from right to left, you see that the current directory holds
149 one file, named part2. Next, the last time that file's contents were
150 modified was 9:42 A.M. on May 16. The file contains 10,876 characters,
151 or bytes. The owner of the file, or the user, belongs to the group dev
152 (perhaps indicating development), and his or her login name is smith.
153 The number, in this case 1, indicates the number of links to file part2
154 (see cp(1)). The plus sign indicates that there is an ACL associated
155 with the file. If the -@ option has been specified, the presence of
156 extended attributes supersede the presence of an ACL and the plus sign
157 is replaced with an 'at' sign (@). Finally, the dash and letters tell
158 you that user, group, and others have permissions to read, write, and
159 execute part2.
160
161
162 The execute (x) symbol occupies the third position of the three-charac‐
163 ter sequence. A − in the third position would have indicated a denial
164 of execution permissions.
165
166
167 The permissions are indicated as follows:
168
169 r
170
171 The file is readable.
172
173
174 w
175
176 The file is writable.
177
178
179 x
180
181 The file is executable.
182
183
184 −
185
186 The indicated permission is not granted.
187
188
189 s
190
191 The set-user-ID or set-group-ID bit is on, and the corresponding
192 user or group execution bit is also on.
193
194
195 S
196
197 Undefined bit-state (the set-user-ID or set-group-id bit is on and
198 the user or group execution bit is off). For group permissions,
199 this applies only to non-regular files.
200
201
202 t
203
204 The 1000 (octal) bit, or sticky bit, is on (see chmod(1)), and exe‐
205 cution is on.
206
207
208 T
209
210 The 1000 bit is turned on, and execution is off (undefined bit-
211 state).
212
213
214 /usr/bin/ls
215 l
216
217 Mandatory locking occurs during access (on a regular file, the set-
218 group-ID bit is on and the group execution bit is off).
219
220
221 /usr/xpg4/bin/ls and /usr/xpg6/bin/ls
222 L
223
224 Mandatory locking occurs during access (on a regular file, the set-
225 group-ID bit is on and the group execution bit is off).
226
227
228
229 For user and group permissions, the third position is sometimes occu‐
230 pied by a character other than x or -. s or S also can occupy this
231 position, referring to the state of the set-ID bit, whether it be the
232 user's or the group's. The ability to assume the same ID as the user
233 during execution is, for example, used during login when you begin as
234 root but need to assume the identity of the user you login as.
235
236
237 In the case of the sequence of group permissions, l can occupy the
238 third position. l refers to mandatory file and record locking. This
239 permission describes a file's ability to allow other files to lock its
240 reading or writing permissions during access.
241
242
243 For others permissions, the third position can be occupied by t or T.
244 These refer to the state of the sticky bit and execution permissions.
245
246 Color Output
247 If color output is enabled, the environment variable LS_COLORS is
248 checked. If it exists, it's contents are used to control the colors
249 used to display filenames. If it is not set, a default list of colors
250 is used. The format of LS_COLORS is a colon separated list of attribute
251 specifications. Each attribute specification is of the format
252
253 filespec=attr[;attr..]
254
255
256
257
258 filespec is either of the form *.SUFFIX, for example, *.jar or *.Z, or
259 one of the following file types:
260
261 no
262
263 Normal file
264
265
266 fi
267
268 Regular file
269
270
271 di
272
273 Directory
274
275
276 ln
277
278 Symbolic link
279
280
281 pi
282
283 FIFO or named pipe
284
285
286 so
287
288 Socket
289
290
291 do
292
293 Door file
294
295
296 bd
297
298 Block device
299
300
301 cd
302
303 Character device
304
305
306 ex
307
308 Execute bit (either user, group, or other) set
309
310
311 po
312
313 Event port
314
315
316 st
317
318 Sticky bit set
319
320
321 or
322
323 Orphaned symlink
324
325
326 sg
327
328 setgid binary
329
330
331 su
332
333 setuid binary
334
335
336 ow
337
338 world writable
339
340
341 tw
342
343 Sticky bit and world writable
344
345
346
347 attr is a semicolon delimited list of color and display attributes
348 which are combined to determine the final output color. Any combination
349 of attr values can be specified. Possible attr values are:
350
351 00
352
353 All attributes off (default terminal color)
354
355
356 01
357
358 Display text in bold
359
360
361 04
362
363 Display text with an underscore
364
365
366 05
367
368 Display text in bold
369
370
371 07
372
373 Display text with foreground and background colors reversed
374
375
376 08
377
378 Display using concealed text.
379
380
381
382 One of the following values can be chosen. If multiple values are spec‐
383 ified, the last specified value is used.
384
385 30
386
387 Set foreground to black.
388
389
390 31
391
392 Set foreground to red.
393
394
395 32
396
397 Set foreground to green.
398
399
400 33
401
402 Set foreground to yellow.
403
404
405 34
406
407 Set foreground to blue.
408
409
410 35
411
412 Set foreground to magenta (purple).
413
414 Set foreground to .
415
416
417 36
418
419 Set foreground to cyan.
420
421
422 37
423
424 Set foreground to white.
425
426
427 39
428
429 Set foreground to default terminal color.
430
431
432
433 One of the following can be specified. If multiple values are speci‐
434 fied, the last value specified is used.
435
436 40
437
438 Set foreground to black.
439
440
441 41
442
443 Set foreground to red.
444
445
446 42
447
448 Set foreground to green.
449
450
451 43
452
453 Set foreground to yellow.
454
455
456 44
457
458 Set foreground to blue.
459
460
461 45
462
463 Set foreground to magenta (purple).
464
465
466 46
467
468 Set foreground to cyan.
469
470
471 47
472
473 Set foreground to white.
474
475
476 49
477
478 Set foreground to default terminal color.
479
480
481
482 On some terminals, setting the bold attribute causes the foreground
483 colors to be high-intensity, that is, brighter. In such cases the low-
484 intensity yellow is often displayed as a brown or orange color.
485
486
487 At least one attribute must be listed for a file specification.
488
489
490 The appropriate color codes are chosen by selecting the most specific
491 match, starting with the file suffixes and proceeding with the file
492 types until a match is found. The no (normal file) type matches any
493 file.
494
496 The following options are supported:
497
498 /usr/bin/ls, /usr/xpg4/bin/ls, and /usr/xpg6/bin/ls
499 The following options are supported for all three versions:
500
501 -a
502 --all
503
504 Lists all entries, including those that begin with a dot (.), which
505 are normally not listed.
506
507
508 -A
509 --almost-all
510
511 Lists all entries, including those that begin with a dot (.), with
512 the exception of the working directory (.) and the parent directory
513 (..).
514
515
516 -b
517 --escape
518
519 Forces printing of non-printable characters to be in the octal \ddd
520 notation.
521
522
523 -B
524 --ignore-backups
525
526 Do not display any files ending with a tilde (~).
527
528
529 -c
530
531 Uses time of last modification of the i-node (file created, mode
532 changed, and so forth) for sorting (-t) or printing (-l or -n).
533
534
535 -C
536
537 Multi-column output with entries sorted down the columns. This is
538 the default output format.
539
540
541 -d
542
543 If an argument is a directory, lists only its name (not its con‐
544 tents). Often used with -l to get the status of a directory.
545
546
547 -e
548
549 The same as -l, except displays time to the second, and with one
550 format for all files regardless of age: mmm dd hh:mm:ss yyyy.
551
552
553 -E
554
555 The same as -l, except displays time to the nanosecond and with one
556 format for all files regardless of age: yyyy-mm-dd
557 hh:mm:ss.nnnnnnnnn (ISO 8601:2000 format).
558
559 In addition, this option displays the offset from UTC in ISO
560 8601:2000 standard format (+hhmm or -hhmm) or no characters if the
561 offset is indeterminable. The offset reflects the appropriate stan‐
562 dard or alternate offset in force at the file's displayed date and
563 time, under the current timezone.
564
565
566 -f
567
568 Forces each argument to be interpreted as a directory and list the
569 name found in each slot. This option turns off -l, -t, -s, -S, and
570 -r, and turns on -a. The order is the order in which entries appear
571 in the directory.
572
573
574 -F
575 --classify
576
577 Append a symbol after certain types of files to indicate the file
578 type. The following symbols are used:
579
580 /
581
582 Directory
583
584
585 >
586
587 Door file
588
589
590 |
591
592 Named pipe (FIFO)
593
594
595 @
596
597 Symbolic link
598
599
600 =
601
602 Socket
603
604
605 *
606
607 Executable
608
609
610
611 -g
612
613 The same as -l, except that the owner is not printed.
614
615
616 -h
617 --human-readable
618
619 All sizes are scaled to a human readable format, for example, 14K,
620 234M, 2.7G, or 3.0T. Scaling is done by repetitively dividing by
621 1024. The last --si or -h option determines the divisor used.
622
623
624 -H
625 --dereference-command-line
626
627 If an argument is a symbolic link that references a directory, this
628 option evaluates the file information and file type of the direc‐
629 tory that the link references, rather than those of the link
630 itself. However, the name of the link is displayed, rather than the
631 referenced directory.
632
633
634 -i
635 --inode
636
637 For each file, prints the i-node number in the first column of the
638 report.
639
640
641 -k
642
643 All sizes are printed in kbytes. Equivalent to --block-size=1024.
644
645
646 -l
647
648 Lists in long format, giving mode, ACL indication, number of links,
649 owner, group, size in bytes, and time of last modification for each
650 file (see above). If the file is a special file, the size field
651 instead contains the major and minor device numbers. If the time of
652 last modification is greater than six months ago, it is shown in
653 the format `month date year' for the POSIX locale. When the LC_TIME
654 locale category is not set to the POSIX locale, a different format
655 of the time field can be used. Files modified within six months
656 show `month date time'. If the file is a symbolic link, the file‐
657 name is printed followed by "→" and the path name of the referenced
658 file.
659
660
661 -L
662 --dereference
663
664 If an argument is a symbolic link, this option evaluates the file
665 information and file type of the file or directory that the link
666 references, rather than those of the link itself. However, the name
667 of the link is displayed, rather than the referenced file or direc‐
668 tory.
669
670
671 -m
672
673 Streams output format. Files are listed across the page, separated
674 by commas.
675
676
677 -n
678 --numeric-uid-gid
679
680 The same as -l, except that the owner's UID and group's GID numbers
681 are printed, rather than the associated character strings.
682
683
684 -o
685 --no-group
686
687 The same as -l, except that the group is not printed.
688
689
690 -p
691
692 Puts a slash (/) after each filename if the file is a directory.
693
694
695 -q
696 --hide-control-chars
697
698 Forces printing of non-printable characters in file names as the
699 character question mark (?).
700
701
702 -r
703 --reverse
704
705 Reverses the order of sort to get reverse alphabetic, oldest first,
706 or smallest file size first as appropriate.
707
708
709 -R
710 --recursive
711
712 Recursively lists subdirectories encountered.
713
714
715 -s
716 --size
717
718 Indicate the total number of file system blocks consumed by each
719 file displayed.
720
721
722 -S
723
724 Sort by file size (in decreasing order) and for files with the same
725 size by file name (in increasing alphabetic order) instead of just
726 by name.
727
728
729 -t
730
731 Sorts by time stamp (latest first) instead of by name. The default
732 is the last modification time. See -c, -u and -%.
733
734
735 -u
736
737 Uses time of last access instead of last modification for sorting
738 (with the -t option) or printing (with the -l option).
739
740
741 -U
742
743 Output is unsorted.
744
745
746 -v
747
748 The same as -l, except that verbose ACL information is displayed as
749 well as the -l output. ACL information is displayed even if the
750 file or directory doesn't have an ACL.
751
752
753 -V
754
755 The same as -l, except that compact ACL information is displayed
756 after the -l output.
757
758 The -V option is only applicable to file systems that support NFSv4
759 ACLs, such as the Solaris ZFS file system.
760
761 The format of the displayed ACL is as follows:
762
763 entry_type : permissions : inheritance_flags : access_type
764
765
766 entry_type is displayed as one of the following:
767
768 user:username
769
770 Additional user access for username.
771
772
773 group:groupname
774
775 Additional group access for group groupname.
776
777
778 owner@
779
780 File owner.
781
782
783 group@
784
785 File group owner.
786
787
788 everyone@
789
790 Everyone access, including file owner and file group owner.
791 This is not equivalent to the POSIX other class.
792
793 The following permissions, supported by the NFSv4 ACL model, are
794 displayed by using the -v or -V options:
795
796 read_data (r)
797
798 Permission to read the data of a file.
799
800
801 list_directory (r)
802
803 Permission to list the contents of a directory.
804
805
806 write_data (w)
807
808 Permission to modify a file's data. anywhere in the file's off‐
809 set range.
810
811
812 add_file (w)
813
814 Permission to add a new file to a directory.
815
816
817 append_data (p)
818
819 The ability to modify a file's data, but only starting at EOF.
820
821
822 add_subdirectory (p)
823
824 Permission to create a subdirectory to a directory.
825
826
827 read_xattr (R)
828
829 Ability to read the extended attributes of a file.
830
831
832 write_xattr (W)
833
834 Ability to create extended attributes or write to the extended
835 attribute directory.
836
837
838 execute (x)
839
840 Permission to execute a file.
841
842
843 read_attributes (a)
844
845 The ability to read basic attributes (non-ACLs) of a file.
846
847
848 write_attributes (A)
849
850 Permission to change the times associated with a file or direc‐
851 tory to an arbitrary value.
852
853
854 delete (d)
855
856 Permission to delete a file.
857
858
859 delete_child (D)
860
861 Permission to delete a file within a directory.
862
863
864 read_acl (c)
865
866 Permission to read the ACL of a file.
867
868
869 write_acl (C)
870
871 Permission to write the ACL of a file.
872
873
874 write_owner (o)
875
876 Permission to change the owner of a file.
877
878
879 synchronize (s)
880
881 Permission to access file locally at server with synchronize
882 reads and writes.
883
884
885 -
886
887 No permission granted
888
889 The following inheritance flags, supported by the NFSv4 ACL model,
890 are displayed by using the -v or -V options:
891
892 file_inherit (f)
893
894 Inherit to all newly created files.
895
896
897 dir_inherit (d)
898
899 Inherit to all newly created directories.
900
901
902 inherit_only (i)
903
904 When placed on a directory, do not apply to the directory, only
905 to newly created files and directories. This flag requires that
906 either file_inherit and or dir_inherit is also specified.
907
908
909 no_propagate (n)
910
911 Indicates that ACL entries should be inherited to objects in a
912 directory, but inheritance should stop after descending one
913 level. This flag is dependent upon either file_inherit and or
914 dir_inherit also being specified.
915
916
917 successful_access (S)
918
919 Indicates if an alarm or audit record should be initiated upon
920 successful accesses. Used with audit/alarm ACE types.
921
922
923 failed_access (F)
924
925 Indicates if an alarm or audit record should be initiated when
926 access fails. Used with audit/alarm ACE types.
927
928
929 inherited (I)
930
931 ACE was inherited.
932
933
934 -
935
936 No permission granted.
937
938 access_type is displayed as one of the following types:
939
940 alarm Permission field that specifies permissions that should
941 trigger an alarm.
942
943
944 allow Permission field that specifies allow permissions.
945
946
947 audit Permission field that specifies permissions that should be
948 audited.
949
950
951 deny Permission field that specifies deny permissions.
952
953 For example:
954
955 $ ls -dV /sandbox/dir.1
956 drwxr-xr-x+ 2 root root 2 Jan 17 15:09 dir.1
957 user:marks:r-------------:fd-----:allow
958 owner@:--------------:-------:deny
959 owner@:rwxp---A-W-Co-:-------:allow
960 group@:-w-p----------:-------:deny
961 group@:r-x-----------:-------:allow
962 everyone@:-w-p---A-W-Co-:-------:deny
963 everyone@:r-x---a-R-c--s:-------:allow
964 $
965 ||||||||||||||||:||||||+ inherited access
966 ||||||||||||||:||||||+ failed access
967 ||||||||||||||:|||||+--success access
968 ||||||||||||||:||||+-- no propagate
969 ||||||||||||||:|||+--- inherit only
970 ||||||||||||||:||+---- directory inherit
971 ||||||||||||||:|+----- file inherit
972 ||||||||||||||
973 ||||||||||||||+ sync
974 |||||||||||||+- change owner
975 ||||||||||||+-- write ACL
976 |||||||||||+--- read ACL
977 ||||||||||+---- write extended attributes
978 |||||||||+----- read extended attributes
979 ||||||||+------ write attributes
980 |||||||+------- read attributes
981 ||||||+-------- delete child
982 |||||+--------- delete
983 ||||+---------- append
984 |||+----------- execute
985 ||+------------ write data
986 |+------------- read data
987
988
989
990
991 -w cols
992 --width cols
993
994 Multi-column output where the column width is forced to cols.
995
996
997 -x
998
999 Multi-column output with entries sorted across rather than down the
1000 page.
1001
1002
1003 -1
1004
1005 Prints one entry per line of output.
1006
1007
1008 -@
1009
1010 The same as -l, except that extended attribute information over‐
1011 rides ACL information. An @ is displayed after the file permission
1012 bits for files that have extended attributes.
1013
1014
1015 -c | -v
1016
1017 The same as -l, and in addition displays the extended system
1018 attributes associated with the file when extended system attributes
1019 are fully supported by the underlying file system. The option -/
1020 supports two option arguments c (compact mode) and v (verbose
1021 mode).
1022
1023 appendonly
1024
1025 Allows a file to be modified only at offset EOF. Attempts to
1026 modify a file at a location other than EOF fails with EPERM.
1027
1028
1029 archive
1030
1031 Indicates if a file has been modified since it was last backed
1032 up. Whenever the modification time (mtime) of a file is changed
1033 the archive attribute is set.
1034
1035
1036 av_modified
1037
1038 ZFS sets the anti-virus attribute which whenever a file's con‐
1039 tent or size changes or when the file is renamed.
1040
1041
1042 av_quarantined
1043
1044 Anti-virus software sets to mark a file as quarantined.
1045
1046
1047 crtime
1048
1049 Timestamp when a file is created.
1050
1051
1052 hidden
1053
1054 Marks a file as hidden.
1055
1056
1057 immutable
1058
1059 Prevents the content of a file from being modified. Also pre‐
1060 vents all metadata changes, except for access time updates.
1061 When placed on a directory, prevents the deletion and creation
1062 of files in the directories. Attempts to modify the content of
1063 a file or directory marked as immutable fail with EPERM.
1064 Attempts to modify any attributes (with the exception of access
1065 time and, with the proper privileges, the immutable) of a file
1066 marked as immutable fails with EPERM.
1067
1068
1069 nodump
1070
1071 Solaris systems have no special semantics for this attribute.
1072
1073
1074 nounlink
1075
1076 Prevents a file from being deleted. On a directory, the
1077 attribute also prevents any changes to the contents of the
1078 directory. That is, no files within the directory can be
1079 removed or renamed. The errno EPERM is returned when attempting
1080 to unlink or rename files and directories that are marked as
1081 nounlink.
1082
1083
1084 readonly
1085
1086 Marks a file as readonly. Once a file is marked as readonly the
1087 content data of the file cannot be modified. Other metadata for
1088 the file can still be modified.
1089
1090
1091 system
1092
1093 Solaris systems have no special semantics for this attribute.
1094
1095
1096
1097
1098 The display characters used in compact mode (-/ c) are as follows:
1099
1100 Attribute Name Display
1101 archive A
1102 hidden H
1103 readonly R
1104 system S
1105 appendonly a
1106 nodump d
1107 immutable i
1108 av_modified m
1109 av_quarantined q
1110 nounlink u
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115 The display in verbose mode (/ v) uses full attribute names when it is
1116 set and the name prefixed by 'no' when it is not set.
1117
1118
1119 The attribute name crtime and all other timestamps are handled by the
1120 option -% with the respective timestamp option arguments and also with
1121 all option argument. The display positions are as follows: The display
1122 in verbose mode (-/ v) uses full attribute names when it is set and
1123 the name prefixed by no when it is not set. The attribute name crtime
1124 and all other timestamps are handled by the option -% with the respec‐
1125 tive timestamp option arguments and also with all option argument.
1126
1127
1128 The display positions are as follows:
1129
1130 {||||||||||}
1131 |||||||||+- u (nounlink)
1132 ||||||||+-- q (av_quarantined)
1133 |||||||+--- m (av_modified)
1134 ||||||+---- i (immutable)
1135 |||||+----- d (nodump)
1136 ||||+------ a (appendonly)
1137 |||+------- S (system)
1138 ||+-------- R (readonly)
1139 |+--------- H (hidden)
1140 +---------- A (archive)
1141
1142
1143
1144 -% atime | crtime | ctime | mtime | all
1145
1146
1147
1148 atime
1149
1150 Equivalent to -u.
1151
1152
1153 crtime
1154
1155 Uses the creation time of the file for sorting or printing.
1156
1157
1158 ctime
1159
1160 Equivalent to -c.
1161
1162
1163 mtime
1164
1165 Uses the last modification time of the file contents for sorting or
1166 printing.
1167
1168
1169
1170 If extended system attributes are not supported or if the user does not
1171 have read permission on the file or if the crtime extended attribute is
1172 not set, crtime is treated as a synonym for mtime.
1173
1174
1175 When option argument -all is specified, all available timestamps are
1176 printed which includes -atime, -ctime, -mtime and on the extended sys‐
1177 tem attribute supporting file systems, -crtime (create time). The
1178 option -% all does not effect which timestamp is displayed in long for‐
1179 mat and does not affect sorting.
1180
1181 --block-size size
1182
1183 Display sizes in multiples of size. Size can be scaled by suffixing
1184 one of YyZzEePpTtGgMmKk. Additionally, a B can be placed at the end
1185 to indicate powers of 10 instead of 2. For example, . 10mB means
1186 blocks of 10000000 bytes while 10m means blocks of 10*2^20 --
1187 10485760 -- bytes. This is mutually exclusive with the -h option.
1188
1189
1190 --color [=when]
1191 --colour[=when]
1192
1193 Display filenames using color on color-capable terminals. when is
1194 an optional argument that determines when to display color output.
1195
1196 Possible values for when are:
1197
1198 always
1199 yes
1200 force
1201
1202 Always use color.
1203
1204
1205 auto
1206 tty
1207 if-tty
1208
1209 Use color if a terminal is present.
1210
1211
1212 no
1213 never
1214 none
1215
1216 Never use color. This is the default
1217
1218 See COLOR OUTPUT for information on how to control the output col‐
1219 ors.
1220
1221
1222 --file-type
1223
1224 Display a suffix after a file depending on it's type, similar to
1225 the -F option, except * is not appended to executable files.
1226
1227
1228 -si
1229 --
1230
1231 Display human scaled sizes similar to the -h option, except values
1232 are repeatedly divided by 1000 instead of 1024. The last option
1233 --si or -h determines the divisor used.
1234
1235
1236 --time-style style
1237
1238 Display times using the specified style. This does not effect the
1239 times displayed for extended attributes (-%).
1240
1241 Possible values for style are:
1242
1243 full-iso
1244
1245 Equivalent to -E.
1246
1247
1248 long-iso
1249
1250 Display in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM for all files.
1251
1252
1253 iso
1254
1255 Display older files using YYYY-MM-DD and newer files with MM-DD
1256 HH:MM.
1257
1258
1259 locale
1260
1261 Use the default locale format for old and new files. This is
1262 the default.
1263
1264
1265 +FORMAT
1266
1267 Use a custom format. Values are the same as described in strf‐
1268 time(3C). If a NEWLINE appears in the string, the first line is
1269 used for older files and the second line is used for newer
1270 files. Otherwise, the given format is used for all files.
1271
1272
1273
1274 /usr/bin/ls
1275 -F
1276
1277 Marks directories with a trailing slash (/), doors with a trailing
1278 greater-than sign (>), executable files with a trailing asterisk
1279 (*), FIFOs with a trailing vertical bar (|), symbolic links with a
1280 trailing "at" sign (@), and AF_UNIX address family sockets with a
1281 trailing equals sign (=). Follows symlinks named as operands.
1282
1283
1284 --file-type
1285
1286 Marks entries as with -F with the exception of executable files.
1287 Executable files are not marked. Follows symlinks named as oper‐
1288 ands.
1289
1290
1291
1292 Specifying more than one of the options in the following mutually
1293 exclusive pairs is not considered an error: -C and -l (ell), -m and -l
1294 (ell), -x and -l (ell), -@ and -l (ell). The -l option overrides the
1295 other option specified in each pair.
1296
1297
1298 Specifying more than one of the options in the following mutually
1299 exclusive groups is not considered an error: -C and -1 (one), -H and
1300 -L, -c and -u, and -e and -E, and -t and -S. The last option specifying
1301 a specific timestamp (-c, -u, -% atime , -% crtime, -% ctime, and -%
1302 mtime) determines the timestamps used for sorting or in long format
1303 listings. The last option -t, -S, or -U determines the sorting behav‐
1304 ior.
1305
1306 /usr/xpg4/bin/ls
1307 -F
1308
1309 Marks directories with a trailing slash (/), doors with a trailing
1310 greater-than sign (>), executable files with a trailing asterisk
1311 (*), FIFOs with a trailing vertical bar (|), symbolic links with a
1312 trailing "at" sign (@), and AF_UNIX address family sockets with a
1313 trailing equals sign (=). Follows symlinks named as operands.
1314
1315
1316 --file-type
1317
1318 Marks entries as with -F with the exception of executable files.
1319 Executable files are not marked. Follows symlinks named as oper‐
1320 ands.
1321
1322
1323
1324 Specifying more than one of the options in the following groups of
1325 mutually exclusive options is not considered an error: -C and -l (ell),
1326 -m and -l (ell), -x and -l (ell), -@ and -l (ell), -C and -1 (one), -H
1327 and -L, -c and -u, -e and -E, -t and -S and -U. The last option speci‐
1328 fying a specific timestamp (-c, -u, -% atime , -% crtime, -% ctime, and
1329 -% mtime) determines the timestamps used for sorting or in long format
1330 listings. The last -t, -S, or -U option determines the sorting behav‐
1331 ior.
1332
1333 /usr/xpg6/bin/ls
1334 -F
1335
1336 Marks directories with a trailing slash (/), doors with a trailing
1337 greater-than sign (>), executable files with a trailing asterisk
1338 (*), FIFOs with a trailing vertical bar (|), symbolic links with a
1339 trailing "at" sign (@), and AF_UNIX address family sockets with a
1340 trailing equals sign (=). Does not follow symlinks named as oper‐
1341 ands unless the -H or -L option is specified.
1342
1343
1344 --file-type
1345
1346 Marks entries as with -F with the exception of executable files.
1347 Executable files are not marked. Does not follow symlinks named as
1348 operands unless the -H or -L option is specified.
1349
1350
1351
1352 Specifying more than one of the options in the following mutually
1353 exclusive pairs is not considered an error: -C and -l (ell), m and
1354 -l(ell), -x and -l (ell), -@ and -l (ell), -C and -1 (one), -H and --L,
1355 -c and -u, -e and -E, -t and -S and -U. The last option specifying a
1356 specific timestamp (-c, -u, -% atime , -% crtime, -% ctime, and -%
1357 mtime) determines the timestamps used for sorting or in long format
1358 listings. The last -t, -S, or -U option determines the sorting behav‐
1359 ior.
1360
1362 The following operand is supported:
1363
1364 file
1365
1366 A path name of a file to be written. If the file specified is not
1367 found, a diagnostic message is output on standard error.
1368
1369
1371 See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of ls when encoun‐
1372 tering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes).
1373
1375 Example 1 Viewing File Permissions
1376
1377
1378 The following example shows how to display detailed information about a
1379 file.
1380
1381
1382 % ls -l file.1
1383 -rw-r--r-- 1 gozer staff 206663 Mar 14 10:15 file.1
1384
1385
1386
1387
1388 The permissions string above (-rw-r--r--) describes that the file owner
1389 has read and write permissions, the owning group has read permissions,
1390 and others have read permissions.
1391
1392
1393
1394 The following example shows how to display detailed information about a
1395 directory.
1396
1397
1398 % ls -ld test.dir
1399 drwxr-xr-x 2 gozer staff 2 Mar 14 10:17 test.dir
1400
1401
1402
1403
1404 The permissions string above (drwxr-xr-x) describes that the directory
1405 owner has read, write, and search permissions, the owning group has
1406 read and search permissions, and others have read and search permis‐
1407 sions.
1408
1409
1410
1411 Another example of listing file permissions is as follows:
1412
1413
1414 % ls -l file.2
1415 -rw-rwl--- 1 gozer staff 206663 Mar 14 10:47 file.2
1416
1417
1418
1419
1420 The permissions string above (-rw-rwl---) describes that the file owner
1421 has read and write permissions, the owning group has read and write
1422 permissions, and the file can be locked during access.
1423
1424
1425 Example 2 Displaying ACL Information on Files and Directories
1426
1427
1428 The following example shows how to display verbose ACL information on a
1429 ZFS file.
1430
1431
1432 % ls -v file.1
1433 -rw-r--r-- 1 marks staff 206663 Mar 14 10:15 file.1
1434 0:owner@:execute:deny
1435 1:owner@:read_data/write_data/append_data/write_xattr/write_attributes
1436 /write_acl/write_owner:allow
1437 2:group@:write_data/append_data/execute:deny
1438 3:group@:read_data:allow
1439 4:everyone@:write_data/append_data/write_xattr/execute/write_attributes
1440 /write_acl/write_owner:deny
1441 5:everyone@:read_data/read_xattr/read_attributes/read_acl/synchronize
1442 :allow
1443
1444
1445
1446
1447 The following example shows how to display compact ACL information on a
1448 ZFS directory.
1449
1450
1451 % ls -dV test.dir
1452 drwxr-xr-x 2 marks staff 2 Mar 14 10:17 test.dir
1453 owner@:--------------:------:deny
1454 owner@:rwxp---A-W-Co-:------:allow
1455 group@:-w-p----------:------:deny
1456 group@:r-x-----------:------:allow
1457 everyone@:-w-p---A-W-Co-:------:deny
1458 everyone@:r-x---a-R-c--s:------:allow
1459
1460
1461
1462
1463 The following example illustrates the ls -v behavior when listing ACL
1464 information on a UFS file.
1465
1466
1467 $ ls -v file.3
1468 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2703 Mar 14 10:59 file.3
1469 0:user::rw-
1470 1:group::r-- #effective:r--
1471 2:mask:r--
1472 3:other:r--
1473
1474
1475
1476 Example 3 Printing the Names of All Files
1477
1478
1479 The following example prints the names of all files in the current
1480 directory, including those that begin with a dot (.), which normally do
1481 not print:
1482
1483
1484 example% ls -a
1485
1486
1487
1488 Example 4 Providing File Information
1489
1490
1491 The following example provides file information:
1492
1493
1494 example% ls -aisn
1495
1496
1497
1498
1499 This command provides information on all files, including those that
1500 begin with a dot (a), the i-number, the memory address of the i-node
1501 associated with the file—printed in the left-hand column (i); the size
1502 (in blocks) of the files, printed in the column to the right of the i-
1503 numbers (s); finally, the report is displayed in the numeric version of
1504 the long list, printing the UID (instead of user name) and GID (instead
1505 of group name) numbers associated with the files.
1506
1507
1508
1509 When the sizes of the files in a directory are listed, a total count of
1510 blocks, including indirect blocks, is printed.
1511
1512
1513 Example 5 Providing Extended System Attributes Information
1514
1515 example% ls -/ c file (extended system attribute in compact mode)
1516 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 May 10 14:17 file
1517 {AHRSadim-u}
1518
1519
1520
1521
1522 In this example, av_quarantined is not set.
1523
1524 example% ls -/ v file (extended system attribute in verbose mode)
1525 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 May 10 14:17 file
1526 {archive,hidden,readonly,system,appendonly\
1527 nodump,immutable,av_modified,\
1528 noav_quarantined,nounlink}
1529
1530 example% ls -/ v file (no extended system attribute)
1531 -rw-r--r-- 1 root staff 0 May 16 14:48 file
1532 {}
1533
1534 example% ls -/ c file (extended system attribute
1535 supported file system)
1536
1537 -rw-r--r-- 1 root staff 3 Jun 4 22:04 file
1538 {A------m--}
1539
1540
1541
1542
1543 archive and av_modified attributes are set by default on an extended
1544 system attribute supported file.
1545
1546 example% ls -/ c -%crtime file
1547
1548 -rw-r--r-- root root 0 May 10 14:17 file
1549 {AHRSadim-u}
1550
1551
1552
1553
1554 This example displays the timestamp as the creation time:
1555
1556 example% ls -l -%all file
1557 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 May 10 14:17 file
1558 timestamp: atime Jun 14 08:47:37 2007
1559 timestamp: ctime May 10 14:20:23 2007
1560 timestamp: mtime May 10 14:17:56 2007
1561 timestamp: crtime May 10 14:17:56 2007
1562
1563 example% ls -%crtime -tl file*
1564
1565 -rw-r--r-- 1 foo staff 3 Jun 4 22:04 file1
1566 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 May 10 14:17 file
1567 -rw-r--r-- 1 foo staff 0 May 9 13:49 file.1
1568
1569
1570
1571
1572 In this example the files are sorted by creation time.
1573
1575 See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
1576 that affect the execution of ls: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE, LC_CTYPE,
1577 LC_TIME, LC_MESSAGES, NLSPATH, and TZ.
1578
1579 COLUMNS
1580
1581 Determines the user's preferred column position width for writing
1582 multiple text-column output. If this variable contains a string
1583 representing a decimal integer, the ls utility calculates how many
1584 path name text columns to write (see -C) based on the width pro‐
1585 vided. If COLUMNS is not set or is invalid, 80 is used. The column
1586 width chosen to write the names of files in any given directory is
1587 constant. File names are not be truncated to fit into the multiple
1588 text-column output.
1589
1590
1591 LS_COLORS
1592
1593 Determines the coloring scheme used when displaying color output.
1594 If not set and color output is specified, a default scheme is used.
1595 If TERM is not set, no color output is used.
1596
1597
1598 TERM
1599
1600 Determine the terminal type. If this variable is unset or NULL, no
1601 color output is generated regardless of the value of the --color
1602 option.
1603
1604
1606 0 All information was written successfully.
1607
1608
1609 >0 An error occurred.
1610
1611
1613 /etc/group
1614
1615 group IDs for ls -l and ls -g
1616
1617
1618 /etc/passwd
1619
1620 user IDs for ls -l and ls -o
1621
1622
1623 /usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*
1624
1625 terminal information database
1626
1627
1629 See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
1630
1631 /usr/bin/ls
1632 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
1633 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
1634 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
1635 │Availability │SUNWcsu │
1636 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
1637 │CSI │Enabled │
1638 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
1639 │Interface Stability │Committed │
1640 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
1641 │Standard │See below. │
1642 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
1643
1644
1645 For all options except -A, -b, -e, -E, -h, -S, U -v, -V, -@, -/, -%,
1646 --all, --almost-all, --block-size, --classify, --color, --colour,
1647 --dereference, --dereference-command-line, --escape, --file-type,
1648 --full-time, --human-readable, --ignore-backups, --inode, --no-group,
1649 --numeric-uid-gid, --reverse, --recursive, --si, --size, and --time-
1650 style, see standards(5).
1651
1652 /usr/xpg4/bin/ls
1653 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
1654 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
1655 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
1656 │Availability │SUNWxcu4 │
1657 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
1658 │CSI │Enabled │
1659 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
1660 │Interface Stability │Committed │
1661 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
1662 │Standard │See below. │
1663 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
1664
1665
1666 For all options except -A, -b, -e, -E, -h, -S, U -v, -V, -@, -/, -%,
1667 --all, --almost-all, --block-size, --classify, --color, --colour,
1668 --dereference, --dereference-command-line, --escape, --file-type,
1669 --full-time, --human-readable, --ignore-backups, --inode, --no-group,
1670 --numeric-uid-gid, --reverse, --recursive, --si, --size, and --time-
1671 style, see standards(5).
1672
1673 /usr/xpg6/bin/ls
1674 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
1675 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
1676 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
1677 │Availability │SUNWxcu6 │
1678 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
1679 │CSI │Enabled │
1680 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
1681 │Interface Stability │Committed │
1682 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
1683 │Standard │See below. │
1684 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
1685
1686
1687 For all options except -A, -b, -e, -E, -h, -S, U -v, -V, -@, -/, -%,
1688 --all, --almost-all, --block-size, --classify, --color, --colour,
1689 --dereference, --dereference-command-line, --escape, --file-type,
1690 --full-time, --human-readable, --ignore-backups, --inode, --no-group,
1691 --numeric-uid-gid, --reverse, --recursive, --si, --size, and --time-
1692 style, see standards(5).
1693
1695 chmod(1), cp(1), setfacl(1), fgetattr(3C), strftime(3C), terminfo(4),
1696 acl(5), attributes(5), environ(5), fsattr(5), largefile(5), stan‐
1697 dards(5)
1698
1700 Unprintable characters in file names can confuse the columnar output
1701 options.
1702
1703
1704 The total block count is incorrect if there are hard links among the
1705 files.
1706
1707
1708 The sort order of ls output is affected by the locale and can be over‐
1709 ridden by the LC_COLLATE environment variable. For example, if LC_COL‐
1710 LATE equals C, dot files appear first, followed by names beginning with
1711 upper-case letters, then followed by names beginning with lower-case
1712 letters. But if LC_COLLATE equals en_US.ISO8859-1, then leading dots as
1713 well as case are ignored in determining the sort order.
1714
1715
1716
1717SunOS 5.11 3 Jun 2009 ls(1)