LS(1) FreeBSD General Commands Manual LS(1)
NAME
ls - list directory contents
SYNOPSIS
ls [-ABCFGHILPRSTUWZabcdfghiklmnopqrstuvwxy1,] [--color=when]
[--group-directories=order] [--group-directories-first] [-D format]
[file ...]
DESCRIPTION
For each operand that names a file of a type other than directory, ls
displays its name as well as any requested, associated information. For
each operand that names a file of type directory, ls 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. This
option is not defined in IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1").
-C Force multi-column output; this is the default when output is to
a terminal.
-D format
When printing in the long (-l) format, use format to format the
date and time output. The argument format is a string used by
strftime(3). Depending on the choice of format string, this may
result in a different number of columns in the output. This
option overrides the -T option. This option is not defined in
IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1").
-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 or COLORTERM in the environment and setting
--color=auto. (See below.) This functionality can be compiled
out by removing the definition of COLORLS. This option is not
defined in IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1").
-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. This
option is not defined in IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1").
-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 printing in the long (-l) format, display complete time
information for the file, including month, day, hour, minute,
second, and year. The -D option gives even more control over the
output format. This option is not defined in IEEE Std
1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1").
-U Use time when file was created for sorting or printing. This
option is not defined in IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1").
-W Display whiteouts when scanning directories. This option is not
defined in IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1").
-Z Display each file's MAC label; see maclabel(7). This option is
not defined in IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1").
-a Include directory entries whose names begin with a dot (`.').
-b As -B, but use C escape codes whenever possible. This option is
not defined in IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1").
-c Use time when file status was last changed for sorting or
printing.
--color=when
Output colored escape sequences based on when, which may be set
to either always, auto, or never.
always will make ls always output color. If TERM is unset or set
to an invalid terminal, then ls will fall back to explicit ANSI
escape sequences without the help of termcap(5). always is the
default if --color is specified without an argument.
auto will make ls output escape sequences based on termcap(5),
but only if stdout is a tty and either the -G flag is specified
or one of the environment variables COLORTERM or CLICOLOR is set
and not empty.
never will disable color regardless of environment variables.
never is the default when neither --color nor -G is specified.
For compatibility with GNU coreutils, ls supports yes or force as
equivalent to always, no or none as equivalent to never, and tty
or if-tty as equivalent to auto.
-d Directories are listed as plain files (not searched recursively).
-f Output is not sorted. This option turns on -a. It also negates
the effect of the -r, -S and -t options. As allowed by IEEE Std
1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1"), this option has no effect on the -d, -l,
-R and -s options.
-g Display the long (-l) format output without the file owner's name
or number.
--group-directories=order
Within results for each operand, group directories together and
print them either first or last.
--group-directories-first
Equivalent to --group-directories=first. Implemented for
compatibility with GNU coreutils.
-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. This
option is not defined in IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1").
-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 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. This option is
incompatible with IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1"). See
chflags(1) for a list of file flags and their meanings.
-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 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 descending time modified (most recently modified first).
If two files have the same modification timestamp, sort their
names in ascending lexicographical order. The -r option reverses
both of these sort orders.
Note that these sort orders are contradictory: the time sequence
is in descending order, the lexicographical sort is in ascending
order. This behavior is mandated by IEEE Std 1003.2 ("POSIX.2").
This feature can cause problems listing files stored with
sequential names on FAT file systems, such as from digital
cameras, where it is possible to have more than one image with
the same timestamp. In such a case, the photos cannot be listed
in the sequence in which they were taken. To ensure the same
sort order for time and for lexicographical sorting, set the
environment variable LS_SAMESORT or use the -y option. This
causes ls to reverse the lexicographical sort order when sorting
files with the same modification timestamp.
-u Use time of last access, instead of time of last modification of
the file for sorting (-t) or printing (-l).
-v Sort following a natural ordering, using strverscmp(3) instead of
strcoll(3) as the comparison function. E.g., files
lexicographically ordered "bloem1", "bloem10", and "bloem9" would
instead be ordered "bloem1", "bloem9", and "bloem10", as one
would perhaps expect.
-w Force raw printing of non-printable characters. This is the
default when output is not to a terminal. This option is not
defined in IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 ("POSIX.1").
-x The same as -C, except that the multi-column output is produced
with entries sorted across, rather than down, the columns.
-y When the -t option is set, sort the alphabetical output in the
same order as the time output. This has the same effect as
setting LS_SAMESORT. See the description of the -t option for
more details. This option is not defined in IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
("POSIX.1").
-1 (The numeric digit "one".) Force output to be one entry per line.
This is the default when output is not to a terminal.
-, (Comma) When the -l or -s option is set, print file sizes grouped
and separated by thousands using the non-monetary separator
returned by localeconv(3), typically a comma or period. If no
locale is set, or the locale does not have a non-monetary
separator, this option has no effect. This option is not defined
in IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 ("POSIX.1").
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, -t and -v 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, ls 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 <blank>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, and the -D or -T are not specified, 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 device
number for the file is 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). If the -h
option is given, the total size is displayed as the number of bytes.
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:
1. If r, the file is readable; if -, it is not readable.
2. If w, the file is writable; if -, it is not writable.
3. 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(7).)
t The sticky bit is set (mode 1000), and is
searchable or executable. (See chmod(1) or
sticky(7).)
The next field contains a plus (`+') character if the file has an ACL, or
a space (` ') if it does not. The ls utility does not show the actual
ACL; use getfacl(1) to do this.
ENVIRONMENT
The following environment variables affect the execution of ls:
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 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) (ports/x11/xterm), 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 or
--color is set to "always".
CLICOLOR_FORCE Color sequences are normally disabled if the output is
not directed to a terminal. This can be overridden by
setting this variable. The TERM variable still needs to
reference a color capable terminal however otherwise it
is not possible to determine which color sequences to
use.
COLORTERM See description for CLICOLOR above.
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 ls 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
or COLORTERM. This string is a concatenation of pairs of
the format fb, where f is the foreground color and b is
the background color. When the background color is
capitalized, the text is underlined.
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 or underlined black, usually shows up as
dark grey
B bold or underlined red
C bold or underlined green
D bold or underlined brown, usually shows up as
yellow
E bold or underlined blue
F bold or underlined magenta
G bold or underlined cyan
H bold or underlined light grey; looks like
bright white
x default foreground or background
X default foreground or background, with an
underline or bold
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:
1. directory
2. symbolic link
3. socket
4. pipe
5. executable
6. block special
7. character special
8. executable with setuid bit set
9. executable with setgid bit set
10. directory writable to others, with sticky bit
11. directory writable to others, without sticky
bit
The default is "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.
LS_SAMESORT If this variable is set, the -t option sorts the names of
files with the same modification timestamp in the same
sense as the time sort. See the description of the -t
option for more details.
TERM The CLICOLOR and COLORTERM 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
The ls utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
EXAMPLES
List the contents of the current working directory in long format:
$ ls -l
In addition to listing the contents of the current working directory in
long format, show inode numbers, file flags (see chflags(1)), and suffix
each filename with a symbol representing its file type:
$ ls -lioF
List the files in /var/log, sorting the output such that the mostly
recently modified entries are printed first:
$ ls -lt /var/log
COMPATIBILITY
The group field is now automatically included in the long listing for
files in order to be compatible with the IEEE Std 1003.2 ("POSIX.2")
specification.
SEE ALSO
chflags(1), chmod(1), getfacl(1), sort(1), xterm(1) (ports/x11/xterm),
localeconv(3), strcoll(3), strftime(3), strmode(3), strverscmp(3),
termcap(5), maclabel(7), sticky(7), symlink(7), getfmac(8)
STANDARDS
With the exception of options -g, -n and -o, the ls utility conforms to
IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 ("POSIX.1") and IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 ("POSIX.1").
The options -B, -D, -G, -I, -T, -U, -W, -Z, -b, -h, -v, -w, -y , -,
--color and --group-directories= (including --group-directories-first)
are non-standard extensions.
The ACL support is compatible with IEEE Std 1003.2c ("POSIX.2c") Draft 17
(withdrawn).
HISTORY
An ls command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.
The -v option was added in FreeBSD 13.2.
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.
IEEE Std 1003.2 ("POSIX.2") mandates opposite sort orders for files with
the same timestamp when sorting with the -t option.
FreeBSD 15.1-STABLE-HBSD January 16, 2025 LS(1)