Linux ls command

Updated: 03/01/2018 by Computer Hope

• About ls
• Syntax
• Information in a "long" listing
• Examples
• Related commands
• Linux and Unix commands help

About ls
The ls command lists the contents of, and optional information about, directories and files. With no
options, ls lists the files contained in the current directory, sorting them alphabetically.

Syntax
ls [option ...] [file]...

ls [-a | --all] [-A | --almost-all] [--author] [-b | --escape]

[--block-size=size] [-B | --ignore-backups] [-c] [-C] [--color[=when]]
[-d | --directory] [-D | --dired] [-f] [-F | --classify] [--file-type]
[--format=word] [--full-time] [-g] [--group-directories-first]
[-G | --no-group] [-h | --human-readable] [--si]
[-H | --dereference-command-line] [--dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir]
[--hide=pattern] [--indicator-style=word] [-i | --inode]
[-I | --ignore=pattern] [-k | --kibibytes] [-l] [-L | --dereference]
[-m] [-n | --numeric-uid-gid] [-N | --literal] [-o]
[-p | --indicator-style=slash] [-q | --hide-control-chars]
[--show-control-chars] [-Q | --quote-name] [--quoting-style=word]
 [-r | --reverse] [-R | --recursive] [-s | --size] [-S] [--sort=word]
[--time=word] [--time-style=style] [-t] [-T | --tabsize=cols]
[-u] [-U] [-v] [-w | --width=cols] [-x] [-X] [-Z | --context] [-1]

ls [--help | --version]

Options
Do not ignore entries starting with ".", providing
-a, --all
visibility to hidden files (those starting with a ".")
-A, --almost-all Do not list implied "." and "..".
--author With -l, print the author of each file.
-b, --escape Print C-style escapes for nongraphic characters.
Scale sizes by size before printing them. For example,
--block-size=size '--block-size=M' prints sizes in units of 1,048,576
bytes. See size format below.
-B, --ignore-backups Do not list implied entries ending with "~".
With -lt:, sort by and show the ctime (time of last
modification of file status information); with -l:, show
-c
ctime and sort by name; otherwise: sort by ctime,
newest first.
-C List entries by columns.
Colorize the output. when defaults to 'always' or can be
--color[=when]
'never' or 'auto'.
List directory entries instead of contents, and do not
-d, --directory
dereference symbolic links.
-D, --dired Generate output designed for Emacs' dired mode.
-f Do not sort, enable -aU, and disable -ls --color.
-F, --classify Append indicator (one of */=>@|) to entries.
--file-type Similar to --classify, except do not append '*'
Formats according to the following: across -x, commas
--format=word -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 before files. Can be augmented with
--group-directories-first a --sort option, but any use of --sort=none (-U)
disables grouping.
-G, --no-group In a long listing, don't print group names.
With -l, print sizes in human-readable format (e.g., 1K,
-h, --human-readable
234M, 2G).
Like --human-readable, but use powers of 1000, not
--si
1024.
-H, --dereference-command-line Follow symbolic links listed on the command line.
 Follow each command line symbolic link that points to
--dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir
a directory.
Do not list implied entries matching shell pattern
--hide=pattern
(overridden by -a or -A).
Append indicator with style word to entry names: none
--indicator-style=word (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, --kibibytes Use 1024-byte blocks.
-l Use a long listing format.
When showing file information for a symbolic link,
-L, --dereference show information 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.
Print raw entry names (don't treat e.g., control
-N, --literal
characters specially).
-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 non graphic characters as-is (default unless
--show-control-chars
program is 'ls' and output is a terminal).
-Q, --quote-name Enclose entry names in double quotes.
Use quoting style word for entry names: literal, locale,
--quoting-style=word
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 by word instead of name: none (-U), extension (-
--sort=word
X), size (-S), time (-t), version (-v).
With -l, show time as word instead of modification
time: "atime" (-u), "access" (-u), "use" (-u), "ctime" (-
--time=word
c), or "status" (-c); use specified time as sort key if
--sort=time.
--time-style=style With -l, show times using style style.

style may be one of: "full-iso", "long-iso", "iso",

"locale", "+format".

format is interpreted like 'date'; if format is

"format1<newline>format2", 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, newest first.
-T, --tabsize=cols Assume tab stops at each cols instead of 8.
With -lt:, sort by and show access time; with -l: show
-u access time and sort by name; otherwise: sort by access
time.
-U Do not sort; list entries in directory order.
-v Natural sort of (version) numbers within text.
-w, --width=cols Assume screen width cols 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 a help message and exit.
--version Display version information and exit.

Size Format
size is an integer and optional unit (example: 10M is 10*1024*1024). Units are K, M, G, T, P, E, Z, Y
(powers of 1024) or KB, MB, ... (powers of 1000).
Using color to distinguish file types is disabled both by default and with --color=never. With
--color=auto, ls emits color codes only when standard output is connected to a terminal. The
LS_COLORS environment variable can change the settings. Use the dircolors command to set it.

Exit Status
0 Everything is OK.
1 There were minor problems; for example, could not access a subdirectory.
2 There were serious problems; for example, a command-line option could not be accessed.

Information shown in a "long" listing

To view extended information about files, use the -l option to create a "long" listing. For instance:
ls -l file.txt

...will display something like the following:

-rwxrw-r-- 1 hope hopestaff 123 Feb 03 15:36 file.txt

Here's what each part of this information means:

- The first character represents the file type: "-" for a regular file, "d" for a directory, "l" for
 a symbolic link.

The next three characters represent the permissions for the file's owner: in this case, the
rwx
owner may read from, write to, ore xecute the file.

The next three characters represent the permissions for members of the file group. In this
rw- case, any member of the file's owning group may read from or write to the file. The final
dash is a placeholder; group members do not have permission to execute this file.

r-- The permissions for "others" (everyone else). Others may only read this file.

1 The number of hard links to this file.

hope The file's owner.

hopestaff The group to whom the file belongs.

123 The size of the file in blocks.

Feb 03
The file's mtime (date and time when the file was last modified).
15:36

file.txt The name of the file.

Examples
ls -l

Lists the total files in the directory and subdirectories, the names of the files in the current directory,
their permissions, the number of subdirectories in directories listed, the size of the file, and the date of
last modification.
ls -laxo

Lists files with permissions, shows hidden files, displays them in a column format, and suppresses
group information.
ls ~

List the contents of your home directory by adding a tilde after the ls command.
ls /

List the contents of your root directory.

ls ../
List the contents of the parent directory.
ls */

List the contents of all subdirectories.

ls -d */

Display a list of directories in the current directory.

ls *.{htm,php,cgi}
List all files containing the file extension .htm, .php, or .cgi
ls -ltr

List files sorted by the time they were last modified in reverse order (most recently modified files last).
ls [aeiou]*
In the above example, only files that begin with a vowel (a, e, i, o, or u).
ls myfile.txt 2>/dev/null
Silences or suppresses any error message if the ls command does not find the file.
Tip: Please also see our explanation of the ./ and ../ directories listed in the listing of files.