#Name

ls - list directory contents

#Synopsis

$ ls [options...] [path...]

#Description

ls lists directory contents and attributes.

If no path argument is provided the current working directory is used.

#Options

• --help: Display this message
• -a, --all: Show dotfiles
• -A: Do not list implied . and .. directories
• -B, --ignore-backups: Do not list implied entries ending with ~
• -F, --classify: Append a file type indicator to entries
• -p: Append a '/' indicator to directories
• -d, --directory: List directories themselves, not their contents
• -l, --long: Display long info
• -t: Sort files by timestamp (newest first)
• -S: Sort files by size (largest first)
• -r, --reverse: Reverse sort order
• -G: Use pretty colors
• -i, --inode: Show inode ids
• -I, --raw-inode: Show raw inode ids if possible (see Notes to understand when this will not work)
• -n, --numeric-uid-gid: In long format, display numeric UID/GID. Implies -l
• -o: In long format, do not show group information. Implies -l
• -g: In long format, do not show owner information. Implies -l
• -h, --human-readable: Print human-readable sizes
• --si: Print human-readable sizes in SI units
• -K, --no-hyperlinks: Disable hyperlinks
• -R, --recursive: List subdirectories recursively
• -1: List one file per line

#Arguments

• path: Directory to list

#Examples

# List contents of working directory
$ ls
# List contents of working directory including hidden dot files
$ ls -la
# List contents of working directory and its subdirectories
$ ls -R
# List contents of /etc/ directory
$ ls /etc
# List contents of /etc/ directory including hidden dot files
$ ls -la /etc

#Notes

Printing raw inode numbers is only possible when listing an entire directory. This happens because the program uses the LibC readdir function, which will provide the raw inode numbers as they're appearing "on disk". In other cases, when strictly using the LibC lstat function the kernel will resolve the inode number with respect to the mount table, so if there is a mounted filesystem on a directory entry, lstat will give the root inode number for that filesystem.

#See also

• tree(1) to show the contents of the directory and subdirectories in a tree visualization