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 is speci-
fied.
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
with -l, scale sizes by SIZE when printing them; e.g.,
'--block-size=M'; 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 change of file
status information); with -l: show ctime and sort by name; other-
wise: sort by ctime, newest first
-C list entries by columns
--color[=WHEN]
color the output WHEN; more info below
-d, --directory
list directories themselves, not their contents
-D, --dired
generate output designed for Emacs' dired mode
-f same as -a -U
-F, --classify[=WHEN]
append indicator (one of */=>@|) to entries WHEN
--file-type
likewise, except do not append '*'
--format=WORD
across,horizontal (-x), commas (-m), 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-first
group directories before files
-G, --no-group
in a long listing, don't print group names
-h, --human-readable
with -l and -s, print sizes like 1K 234M 2G etc.
--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 -A)
--hyperlink[=WHEN]
hyperlink file names WHEN
--indicator-style=WORD
append indicator with style WORD to entry names: none (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
default to 1024-byte blocks for file system usage; used only with
-s and per directory totals
-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 entry names without quoting
-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 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, shell-escape, shell-escape-always, c, escape (over-
rides QUOTING_STYLE environment variable)
-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
change default 'name' sort to WORD: none (-U), size (-S), time
(-t), version (-v), extension (-X), name, width
--time=WORD
select which timestamp used to display or sort; access time (-u):
atime, access, use; metadata change time (-c): ctime, status;
modified time (default): mtime, modification; birth time: birth,
creation;
with -l, WORD determines which time to show; with --sort=time,
sort by WORD (newest first)
--time-style=TIME_STYLE
time/date format with -l; see TIME_STYLE below
-t sort by time, newest first; see --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, newest
first
-U do not sort directory entries
-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
--zero end each output line with NUL, not newline
-1 list one file per line
--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 are K,M,G,T,P,E,Z,Y,R,Q (powers of 1024) or KB,MB,...
(powers of 1000). Binary prefixes can be used, too: KiB=K, MiB=M, and
so on.
The TIME_STYLE argument can be full-iso, long-iso, iso, locale, or +FOR-
MAT. FORMAT is interpreted like in date(1). If FORMAT is FORMAT1<new-
line>FORMAT2, then FORMAT1 applies to non-recent files and FORMAT2 to
recent files. TIME_STYLE prefixed with 'posix-' takes effect only out-
side the POSIX locale. Also the TIME_STYLE environment variable sets
the default style to use.
The WHEN argument defaults to 'always' and can also be 'auto' or
'never'.
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(1) 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).
AUTHOR
Written by Richard M. Stallman and David MacKenzie.
REPORTING BUGS
GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>
SEE ALSO
dircolors(1)
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ls>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) ls invocation'
Packaged by Debian (9.7-3)
Copyright © 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/li-
censes/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
GNU coreutils 9.7 June 2025 LS(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 04:14:36 CET 2025.