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LS(1) DragonFly General Commands Manual LS(1)
NAME
ls - list directory contents
SYNOPSIS
ls [-1ABCFGHILPRSTW_abcdfghiklmnopqrstuwxy] [-D format] [file ...]
DESCRIPTION
For each operand that names a file of a type other than directory, ls
displays its name as well as any requested, associated information. For
each operand that names a file of type directory, ls displays the names
of files contained within that directory, as well as any requested,
associated information.
If no operands are given, the contents of the current directory are
displayed. If more than one operand is given, non-directory operands are
displayed first; directory and non-directory operands are sorted
separately and in lexicographical order.
The following options are available:
-A List all entries, including dot files, except for dot and dot-
dot. Always set for the super-user, but may be turned off with
-I.
-B Force printing of non-printable characters (as defined by
ctype(3) and current locale settings) in file names as \xxx,
where xxx is the numeric value of the character in octal.
-C Force multi-column output; this is the default when output is to
a terminal.
-D format
When printing in the long (-l) format, use format to format the
date and time output. The argument format is a string used by
strftime(3). Depending on the choice of format string, this may
result in a different number of columns in the output. This
option overrides the -T option.
-F Display a slash (`/') immediately after each pathname that is a
directory, an asterisk (`*') after each that is executable, an at
sign (`@') after each symbolic link, an equals sign (`=') after
each socket, a percent sign (`%') after each whiteout, and a
vertical bar (`|') after each that is a FIFO.
-G Enable colorized output. This option is equivalent to defining
CLICOLOR in the environment. (See below.) This functionality
can be compiled out by removing the definition of COLORLS.
-H Symbolic links on the command line are followed. This option is
assumed if none of the -F, -d, or -l options are specified.
-I This turns off the listing of dot files. Dot files are listed by
default when ls is run as root. Note that the -I and -A options
will override each other.
-L If argument is a symbolic link, list the file or directory the
link references rather than the link itself. This option cancels
the -P option.
-P If argument is a symbolic link, list the link itself rather than
the object the link references. This option cancels the -H and
-L options.
-R Recursively list subdirectories encountered.
-S Sort by size (largest file first) before sorting the operands in
lexicographical order.
-T When used with the -l (lowercase letter "ell") option, display
complete time information for the file, including month, day,
hour, minute, second, and year (named locales use the ISO 8601
extended format).
-W Display whiteouts when scanning directories.
-a Include directory entries whose names begin with a dot (.).
-b As -B, but use C escape codes whenever possible.
-c Use time when file status was last changed for sorting or
printing.
-d Directories are listed as plain files (not searched recursively).
-f Output is not sorted. This option implies -a.
-g This option is deprecated and is only available for compatibility
with 4.3BSD; it was used to display the group name in the long
(-l) format output.
-h When used with the -l option, use unit suffixes: Byte, Kilobyte,
Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte and Petabyte in order to reduce the
number of digits to four or fewer using base 2 for sizes.
-i For each file, print the file's file serial number (inode
number).
-k If the -s option is specified, print the file size allocation in
kilobytes, not blocks. This option overrides the environment
variable BLOCKSIZE. Note that -k is mutually exclusive to -h,
and later -k will nullify earlier -h.
-l (The lowercase letter "ell".) List in long format. (See below.)
A total sum (in blocks, see the -s option for the block size
unit) for all the file sizes is output on a line before the long
listing.
-m Stream output format; list files across the page, separated by
commas.
-n Display user and group IDs numerically rather than converting to
a user or group name in a long (-l) output.
-o Include the file flags in a long (-l) output.
-p Write a slash (`/') after each filename if that file is a
directory.
-q Force printing of non-graphic characters in file names as the
character `?'; this is the default when output is to a terminal.
-r Reverse the order of the sort to get reverse lexicographical
order or the oldest entries first.
-s Display the number of file system blocks actually used by each
file, in units of 512 bytes, where partial units are rounded up
to the next integer value. A total sum for all the file sizes is
output on a line before the listing. The environment variable
BLOCKSIZE overrides the unit size of 512 bytes.
-t Sort by time modified (most recently modified first) before
sorting the operands by lexicographical order.
-u Use time of last access, instead of last modification of the file
for sorting (-t) or printing (-l).
-w Force raw printing of non-printable characters. This is the
default when output is not to a terminal.
-x The same as -C, except that the multi-column output is produced
with entries sorted across, rather than down, the columns.
-1 (The numeric digit "one".) Force output to be one entry per line.
This is the default when output is not to a terminal.
-_ (underscore) When printing in the long (-l) format, use GMT based
date and time output with nanotime timestamp.
The -1, -C, -x, and -l options all override each other; the last one
specified determines the format used.
The -c and -u options override each other; the last one specified
determines the file time used.
The -S and -t options override each other; the last one specified
determines the sort order used.
The -B, -b, -w, and -q options all override each other; the last one
specified determines the format used for non-printable characters.
The -H, -L and -P options all override each other (either partially or
fully); they are applied in the order specified.
By default, ls lists one entry per line to standard output; the
exceptions are to terminals or when the -C or -x options are specified.
File information is displayed with one or more <blank>s separating the
information associated with the -i, -s, and -l options.
The Long Format
If the -l option is given, the following information is displayed for
each file: file mode, number of links, owner name, group name, number of
bytes in the file, last modified time in either per POSIX requirements or
using the format DD-MMM-YYYY hh:ss, and the pathname. In addition, for
each directory whose contents are displayed, the total number of 512-byte
blocks used by the files in the directory is displayed on a line by
itself immediately before the information for the files in the directory.
In the POSIX locale, If the modification time of the file is in the
future, or more than 6 months in the past, then the year of the last
modification is displayed in place of the hour and minute fields.
If the owner or group names are not a known user or group name, or the -n
option is given, the numeric ID's are displayed.
If the file is a character special or block special file, the major and
minor device numbers for the file are displayed in the size field. If
the file is a symbolic link the pathname of the linked-to file is
preceded by "->".
The file mode printed under the -l option consists of the entry type and
the permissions. The entry type character describes the type of file, as
follows:
b Block special file.
c Character special file.
d Directory.
l Symbolic link.
s Socket link.
p FIFO.
- Regular file.
The next three fields are three characters each: owner permissions, group
permissions, and other permissions. Each field has three character
positions:
1. If r, the file is readable; if -, it is not readable.
2. If w, the file is writable; if -, it is not writable.
3. The first of the following that applies:
S If in the owner permissions, the file is not
executable and set-user-ID mode is set. If in the
group permissions, the file is not executable and
set-group-ID mode is set.
s If in the owner permissions, the file is
executable and set-user-ID mode is set. If in the
group permissions, the file is executable and
setgroup-ID mode is set.
x The file is executable or the directory is
searchable.
- The file is neither readable, writable,
executable, nor set-user-ID nor set-group-ID mode,
nor sticky. (See below.)
These next two apply only to the third character in the last
group (other permissions).
T The sticky bit is set (mode 1000), but not execute
or search permission. (See chmod(1) or
sticky(8).)
t The sticky bit is set (mode 1000), and is
searchable or executable. (See chmod(1) or
sticky(8).)
ENVIRONMENT
The following environment variables affect the execution of ls:
BLOCKSIZE If the environment variable BLOCKSIZE is set, the
block counts (see -s) will be displayed in units of
that size block.
CLICOLOR Use ANSI color sequences to distinguish file types.
See LSCOLORS below. In addition to the file types
mentioned in the -F option some extra attributes
(setuid bit set, etc.) are also displayed. The
colorization is dependent on a terminal type with the
proper termcap(5) capabilities. The default "cons25"
console has the proper capabilities, but to display
the colors in an xterm(1), for example, the TERM
variable must be set to "xterm-color". Other
terminal types may require similar adjustments.
Colorization is silently disabled if the output is
not directed to a terminal unless the CLICOLOR_FORCE
variable is defined.
CLICOLOR_FORCE Color sequences are normally disabled if the output
is not directed to a terminal. This can be
overridden by setting this variable. The TERM
variable still needs to reference a color capable
terminal however otherwise it is not possible to
determine which color sequences to use.
COLUMNS If this variable contains a string representing a
decimal integer, it is used as the column position
width for displaying multiple-text-column output.
The ls utility calculates how many pathname text
columns to display based on the width provided. (See
-C and -x.)
LANG The locale to use when determining the order of day
and month in the long -l format output. See
environ(7) for more information.
LSCOLORS The value of this variable describes what color to
use for which attribute when colors are enabled with
CLICOLOR. This string is a concatenation of pairs of
the format fb, where f is the foreground color and b
is the background color.
The color designators are as follows:
a black
b red
c green
d brown
e blue
f magenta
g cyan
h light grey
A bold black, usually shows up as dark grey
B bold red
C bold green
D bold brown, usually shows up as yellow
E bold blue
F bold magenta
G bold cyan
H bold light grey; looks like bright white
x default foreground or background
Note that the above are standard ANSI colors. The
actual display may differ depending on the color
capabilities of the terminal in use.
The order of the attributes are as follows:
1. directory
2. symbolic link
3. socket
4. pipe
5. executable
6. block special
7. character special
8. executable with setuid bit set
9. executable with setgid bit set
10. directory writable to others, with sticky
bit
11. directory writable to others, without
sticky bit
The default is "exfxcxdxbxegedabagacad", i.e., blue
foreground and default background for regular
directories, black foreground and red background for
setuid executables, etc.
LS_COLWIDTHS If this variable is set, it is considered to be a
colon-delimited list of minimum column widths.
Unreasonable and insufficient widths are ignored
(thus zero signifies a dynamically sized column).
Not all columns have changeable widths. The fields
are, in order: inode, block count, number of links,
user name, group name, flags, file size, file name.
TERM The CLICOLOR functionality depends on a terminal type
with color capabilities.
TZ The timezone to use when displaying dates. See
environ(7) for more information.
COMPATIBILITY
The group field is now automatically included in the long listing for
files in order to be compatible with the IEEE Std 1003.2 ("POSIX.2")
specification.
SEE ALSO
chflags(1), chmod(1), sort(1), xterm(1) (x11/xterm), strftime(3),
termcap(5), symlink(7), sticky(8)
STANDARDS
With the exception of options -g, -n and -o, the ls utility conforms to
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 ("POSIX.1"). The options -B, -D, -G, -I, -T, -W,
-b, -h, -w, -y and -_ are compatible extensions not defined in IEEE Std
1003.1-2001 ("POSIX.1").
HISTORY
An ls command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.
BUGS
To maintain backward compatibility, the relationships between the many
options are quite complex.
DragonFly 5.9-DEVELOPMENT December 28, 2020 DragonFly 5.9-DEVELOPMENT