For each operand that names a
file
of a type other than
directory,
displays its name as well as any requested,
associated information.
For each operand that names a
file
of type directory,
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
Include directory entries whose names begin with a
dot
(`.
'
)
except for
.
and
..
Automatically set for the super-user unless
-I
is specified.
-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.
-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.)
-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
Prevent
-A
from being automatically set for the super-user.
-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.
-U
Use time when file was created for sorting or printing.
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.
-g
This option is deprecated and is only available for compatibility
with
BSD 4.3
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
This has the same effect as setting environment variable
BLOCKSIZE
to 1024, except that it also nullifies any
-h
options to its left.
-l
(The lowercase letter
``ell .''
List files in the long format, as described in the
Sx The Long Format
subsection below.
-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.
-s
Display the number of blocks used in the file system by each file.
Block sizes and directory totals are handled as described in
Sx The Long Format
subsection below, except (if the long format is not also requested)
the directory totals are not output when the output is in a
single column, even if multi-column output is requested.
-t
Sort by time modified (most recently modified
first) before sorting the operands in 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.
The
-1 , C , x
and
-l
options all override each other; the last one specified determines
the format used.
The
-c , u
and
-U
options all 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,
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
Ao blank Ac Ns 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,
MAC label,
number of bytes in the file, abbreviated
month, day-of-month file was last modified,
hour file last modified, minute file last
modified, and the pathname.
If the modification time of the file is more than 6 months
in the past or future, 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 listing of a directory's contents is preceded
by a labeled total number of blocks used in the file system by the files
which are listed as the directory's contents
(which may or may not include
.
and
..
and other files which start with a dot, depending on other options).
The default block size is 512 bytes.
The block size may be set with option
-k
or environment variable
BLOCKSIZE
Numbers of blocks in the output will have been rounded up so the
numbers of bytes is at least as many as used by the corresponding
file system blocks (which might have a different size).
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:
-
Regular file.
b
Block special file.
c
Character special file.
d
Directory.
l
Symbolic link.
p
FIFO
s
Socket.
w
Whiteout.
The next three fields
are three characters each:
owner permissions,
group permissions, and
other permissions.
Each field has three character positions:
If
r
the file is readable; if
-
it is not readable.
If
w
the file is writable; if
-
it is not writable.
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).)
The next field contains a
plus
(`+'
)
character if the file has an ACL, or a
space
(`'
)
if it does not.
The
utility does not show the actual ACL;
use
getfacl(1)
to do this.
ENVIRONMENT
The following environment variables affect the execution of
:
BLOCKSIZE
If this is set, its value, rounded up to 512 or down to a
multiple of 512, will be used as the block size in bytes by the
-l
and
-s
options.
See
Sx The Long Format
subsection for more information.
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 flag.
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
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
f b
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:
directory
symbolic link
socket
pipe
executable
block special
character special
executable with setuid bit set
executable with setgid bit set
directory writable to others, with sticky bit
directory writable to others, without sticky bit
The default is
Qq 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.
EXIT STATUS
Ex -std
COMPATIBILITY
The group field is now automatically included in the long listing for
files in order to be compatible with the
St -p1003.2
specification.
With the exception of options
-I , g , n
and
-o
the
utility conforms to
St -p1003.1-2001 .
The ACL support is compatible with
IEEE
Std~1003.2c
(``POSIX .2c
''
)
Draft~17
(withdrawn).
HISTORY
An
command appeared in
AT&T System
v1 .
BUGS
To maintain backward compatibility, the relationships between the many
options are quite complex.
The exception mentioned in the
-s
option description might be a feature that was
based on the fact that single-column output
usually goes to something other than a terminal.
It is debatable whether this is a design bug.
