ls - list directory contents

ls [OPTION]... [FILE]...

List information about the FILEs (the current directory by default). Sort entri
alphabetically if none of -cftuvSUX nor --sort is specified.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

-a, --all
do not ignore entries starting with .

-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

--block-size=SIZE
scale sizes by SIZE before printing them; e.g., '--block-size=M' prints sizes
units of 1,048,576 bytes; see SIZE format below

-B, --ignore-backups
do not list implied entries ending with ~

-c with -lt: sort by, and show, ctime (time of last modification of file stat
information); with -l: show ctime and sort by name; otherwise: sort by ctim
newest first

-C list entries by columns

--color[=WHEN]
colorize the output; WHEN can be 'always' (default if omitted), 'auto', or 'never
more info below

-d, --directory
list directories themselves, not their contents

-D, --dired
generate output designed for Emacs' dired mode

-f do not sort, enable -aU, disable -ls --color

-F, --classify
append indicator (one of */=>@|) to entries

--file-type
likewise, except do not append '*'

--format=WORD
across -x, commas -m, horizontal -x, long -l, single-column -1, verbose
 vertical -C

--full-time
like -l --time-style=full-iso

-g like -l, but do not list owner

--group-directories-first
group directories before files;

can be augmented with a --sort option, but any use of --sort=none (

grouping

-G, --no-group
in a long listing, don't print group names

-h, --human-readable
with -l and/or -s, print human readable sizes (e.g., 1K 234M 2G)

--si likewise, but use powers of 1000 not 1024

-H, --dereference-command-line
follow symbolic links listed on the command line

--dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir
follow each command line symbolic link

that points to a directory

--hide=PATTERN
do not list implied entries matching shell PATTERN (overridden by -a or

--indicator-style=WORD
append indicator with style WORD to entry names: none (default), slash (
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
default to 1024-byte blocks for disk usage

-l use a long listing format

-L, --dereference
when showing file information for a symbolic link, show information for the fi
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

-N, --literal
print raw entry names (don't treat e.g. control 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 nongraphic characters

--show-control-chars
show nongraphic characters as-is (the default, unless program is 'ls' and output
a terminal)

-Q, --quote-name
enclose entry names in double quotes

--quoting-style=WORD
use quoting style WORD for entry names: literal, locale, shell, shell-alway
shell-escape, shell-escape-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, largest first

--sort=WORD
sort by WORD instead of name: none (-U), size (-S), time (-t), version (
extension (-X)

--time=WORD
with -l, show time as WORD instead of default modification time: atime or access
use (-u); ctime or status (-c); also use specified time as sort key if
(newest first)

--time-style=STYLE
with -l, show times using style STYLE: full-iso, long-iso, iso, locale, or +FORMA
FORMAT is interpreted like in 'date'; if FORMAT is FORMAT1<newline>FORMAT2, th
FORMAT1 applies to non-recent files and FORMAT2 to recent files; if STYLE
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

-u with -lt: sort by, and show, access time; with -l: show access time and sort
name; otherwise: sort by access time, newest first

-U do not sort; list entries in directory order

-v natural sort of (version) numbers within text

-w, --width=COLS
set output width to COLS. 0 means no limit

-x list entries by lines instead of by columns

 -X sort alphabetically by entry extension

-Z, --context
print any security context of each file

-1 list one file per line. Avoid '\n' with -q or -b

--help display this help and exit

--version
output version information and exit

The SIZE argument is an integer and optional unit (example: 10K is 10*1024). Units a
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
With --color=auto, ls emits color codes only when standard output is connected to
terminal. The LS_COLORS environment variable can change the settings. Use the dircolo
command to set it.

Exit status:
0 if OK,

1 if minor problems (e.g., cannot access subdirectory),

2 if serious trouble (e.g., cannot access command-line argument).

Written by Richard M. Stallman and David MacKenzie.

GNU coreutils online help: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report ls translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>

Copyright © 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3
later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANT
to the extent permitted by law.

Full documentation at: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ls>

or available locally via: info '(coreutils) ls invocation'