Linux ls man page (Unix and Linux ls command help)

The contents of this page come from the CentOS Linux ls man page, i.e., the man page for the Linux ls command (also known as the help page for the ls command).

CentOS Linux ls man page (ls command help)

LS(1)				 User Commands				 LS(1)



NAME
       ls - list directory contents

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

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

       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 octal escapes for nongraphic characters

       --block-size=SIZE
	      use SIZE-byte blocks

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

       -c     with -lt: sort by, and show, ctime (time of last modification of
	      file status information) with -l: show ctime and	sort  by  name
	      otherwise: sort by ctime

       -C     list entries by columns

       --color[=WHEN]
	      control  whether	color is used to distinguish file types.  WHEN
	      may be ‘never’, ‘always’, or ‘auto’

       -d, --directory
	      list directory entries instead of contents, and do not  derefer-
	      ence symbolic links

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

       -f     do not sort, enable -aU, disable -lst

       -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 -l, vertical -C

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

       -g     like -l, but do not list owner

       -G, --no-group
	      like -l, but do not list group

       -h, --human-readable
	      with -l, print sizes in human readable format (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 direc-
	      tory

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

       --indicator-style=WORD append indicator with style WORD to entry names:
	      none  (default),	slash  (-p), file-type (--file-type), classify
	      (-F)

       -i, --inode
	      with -l, print the index number of each file

       -I, --ignore=PATTERN
	      do not list implied entries matching shell PATTERN

       -k     like --block-size=1K

       -l     use a long listing format

       -L, --dereference
	      when showing file information for a symbolic link, show informa-
	      tion  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

       -N, --literal
	      print raw entry names (don’t treat e.g. control characters  spe-
	      cially)

       -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-control-chars
	      show  non	 graphic  characters  as-is (default unless program is
	      ‘ls’ and output is 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-always, c, escape

       -r, --reverse
	      reverse order while sorting

       -R, --recursive
	      list subdirectories recursively

       -s, --size
	      with -l, print size of each file, in blocks

       -S     sort by file size

       --sort=WORD
	      extension	 -X, none -U, size -S, time -t, version -v, status -c,
	      time -t, atime -u, access -u, use -u

       --time=WORD
	      with -l, show time as WORD instead of modification time:	atime,
	      access,  use, ctime or status; use specified time as sort key if
	      --sort=time

       --time-style=STYLE
	      with -l, show times using style STYLE: 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

       -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 by name otherwise: sort by access time

       -U     do  not  sort;  list entries in directory order.	In combination
	      with one_per_line format ‘-1’, it will  show  files  immediately
	      and it has no memory limitations.

       -v     sort by version

       -w, --width=COLS
	      assume screen width instead of current value

       -x     list entries by lines instead of by columns

       -X     sort alphabetically by entry extension

       -1     list one file per line

       SELinux options:

       --lcontext
	      Display  security	 context.    Enable -l. Lines will probably be
	      too wide for most displays.

       -Z, --context
	      Display security context so it fits on most displays.   Displays
	      only mode, user, group, security context and file name.

       --scontext
	      Display only security context and file name.

       --help display this help and exit

       --version
	      output version information and exit

       SIZE  may  be (or may be an integer optionally followed by) one of fol-
       lowing: kB 1000, K 1024, MB 1000*1000, M 1024*1024, and so on for G, T,
       P, E, Z, Y.

       By  default,  color is not used to distinguish types of files.  That is
       equivalent to using --color=none.  Using the --color option without the
       optional	 WHEN  argument	 is  equivalent to using --color=always.  With
       --color=auto, color codes are output only if standard  output  is  con-
       nected  to  a  terminal	(tty).	The environment variable LS_COLORS can
       influence the colors, and can be set easily by the dircolors command.

       Exit status is 0 if OK, 1 if minor problems, 2 if serious trouble.

AUTHOR
       Written by Richard Stallman and David MacKenzie.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       This is free software.  You may redistribute copies  of	it  under  the
       terms	   of	    the	     GNU      General	   Public      License
       <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.	There is NO WARRANTY,  to  the
       extent permitted by law.

SEE ALSO
       The  full  documentation	 for ls is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If
       the info and ls programs are properly installed at your site, the  com-
       mand

	      info ls

       should give you access to the complete manual.



ls 5.97				 January 2009				 LS(1)