(coreutils.info)ls invocation

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Enter node , (file) or (file)node

10.1 `ls': List directory contents
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The `ls' program lists information about files (of any type, including
directories).  Options and file arguments can be intermixed
arbitrarily, as usual.

   For non-option command-line arguments that are directories, by
default `ls' lists the contents of directories, not recursively, and
omitting files with names beginning with `.'.  For other non-option
arguments, by default `ls' lists just the file name.  If no non-option
argument is specified, `ls' operates on the current directory, acting
as if it had been invoked with a single argument of `.'.

   By default, the output is sorted alphabetically, according to the
locale settings in effect.(1) If standard output is a terminal, the
output is in columns (sorted vertically) and control characters are
output as question marks; otherwise, the output is listed one per line
and control characters are output as-is.

   Because `ls' is such a fundamental program, it has accumulated many
options over the years.  They are described in the subsections below;
within each section, options are listed alphabetically (ignoring case).
The division of options into the subsections is not absolute, since some
options affect more than one aspect of `ls''s operation.

   Exit status:

     0 success
     1 minor problems  (e.g., failure to access a file or directory not
       specified as a command line argument.  This happens when listing a
       directory in which entries are actively being removed or renamed.)
     2 serious trouble (e.g., memory exhausted, invalid option or failure
       to access file or directory specified as a command line argument)

   Also see Note: Common options.

Which files are listed

What information is listed

Sorting the output

More details about version sort

General output formatting

Formatting file timestamps

Formatting the file names

   ---------- Footnotes ----------

   (1) If you use a non-POSIX locale (e.g., by setting `LC_ALL' to
`en_US'), then `ls' may produce output that is sorted differently than
you're accustomed to.  In that case, set the `LC_ALL' environment
variable to `C'.