ls Command in Linux with Examples
ls Command
ls command is most frequently used in Linux system. ls command is used for list information about files in the current working directory by default. ls command is one of the default shell command in Linux.
Syntax
ls < option>
Display the all files in working directory
This command displays all the files and directory in working directory including hidden files.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls
dir1 dir2 dir3 my.txt
Do not display the backup file
This command displays almost all files and directory. But do not list starting with “ .” and “ ...” files.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -B
dir1 dir2 dir3 my.txt
Display the hidden files
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -a
. dir1 dir2 .~lock.date.command.odt# my.txt
.. dir2 .hide.txt .~lock.untitled 1.odt#
Display the files with color
This command will display you the file and directory in black color. Here we currently work in user home directory.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls --color=never
dir1 dir2 dir3 my.txt
Display the last changing directory
This command will show you last changing file and directory with ctime and sort by. Using with -lt it shows long listing and sort by time and date.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -ltc
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir2
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 1370 Feb 25 01:18 my.txt
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir3
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir1
Display the file and directory in working directory
This command will show the directory and files which presented in current working directory.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -D *
my.txt
dir1:
my2.txt my3.txt my.txt
dir2:
a1 a2 a3 file.txt kk.txt mydir
dir3:
b1 b2 b3 file.txt
Display the long list file
ls command will show you long list it means it shows who is owner of the file and group and file size and ctime.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -l
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir1
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir2
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir3
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 1370 Feb 25 01:18 my.txt
Display the inode number of the file
ls command will show you files and directory inode number in working directory.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -i
529387 dir1 529388 dir2 529389 dir3 521322 my.txt
Display the files in sort by file size
This command will display the sorted file by file size. The bigger file will be displayed at the first.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -lS
total 28
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 10947 Feb 25 01:18 text.txt
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir1
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir2
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir3
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 1370 Feb 25 01:18 my.txt
Display the file size in human readable
ls command will shows you long list with file size and file size human readable it means file size in KB size.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -lh
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4.0K Feb 25 01:18 dir1
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4.0K Feb 25 01:18 dir2
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4.0K Feb 25 01:18 dir3
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 1.4K Feb 25 01:18 my.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 11K Feb 25 01:18 text.txt
Display the files in reverse order
ls command will display the files and directory in reverse order. Now you can see the difference between the normal order and reverse order.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -rl
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 10947 Feb 25 01:18 text.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 1370 Feb 25 01:18 my.txt
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir3
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir2
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir1
Display recursively file and sub files
This command will display the recursive file and it contains sub directory and it files. With -l long listing the file.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -lR
total 28
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir1
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir2
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir3
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 1370 Feb 25 01:18 my.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 10947 Feb 25 01:18 text.txt
./dir1:
total 32
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 9864 Feb 25 01:18 file1.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 7422 Feb 25 01:18 file2.txt
.
.
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 217 Feb 25 00:57 file.txt
Display the file sort by time and date
This command will display the list you file and directory in sort by time and date type. It means which file or directory will lastly create it is first in the list. With -l using it shows you long listing.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -t
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 10947 Feb 25 01:45 text.txt
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:43 dir1
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir2
-rw-rw-r-- 1 User1 User1 1370 Feb 25 01:09 my.txt
drwxrwxr-x 1 User1 User1 4096 Feb 25 00:57 dir3
Display the absolute path file
This command helps to view the absolute path and their list file and directory.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls /home/Desktop
Desktop example.txt Music Templates test.txt~ test4.txt
Documents file.mp3 Picture test1 test2.txt Videos
Downloads files Public test1.txt test3.txt
Display list user home directory
This command will show you the current logged in user home directory.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -l ~
drwxr-xr-x 4 user1 user1 4096 Feb 25 01:45 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 2 user1 user1 4096 Feb 18 12:22 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 2 user1 user1 4096 Feb 16 04:14 Downloads
.
.
drwxr-xr-x 2 user1 user1 4096 Feb 8 10:10 Videos
Display the files and directories with ‘ /’ character at the end
Using option &ndash F with ls command, will add the ‘ /’ Character at the end each directory.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -F
dir1/ dir2/ dir3/ my.txt text.txt
Display the version of ls command
Using options --version to check what kind of version using in our ls commands.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls --version
ls (GNU coreutils) 8.4
Copyright (C) 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later < http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html> .
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Written by Richard M. Stallman and David MacKenzie.
Display UID and GID of Files using ls commands
Using option -n with ls command it will display the UID and GID of the user and group.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -n
drwxrwxr-x 2 509 514 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir1
drwxrwxr-x 3 509 514 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir2
drwxrwxr-x 2 509 514 4096 Feb 25 01:18 dir3
-rw-rw-r-- 1 509 514 1370 Feb 25 01:18 my.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 509 514 10947 Feb 25 01:18 text.txt
Display directory information using ls command
Using ls -l /etc/ command list files under directory /etc. Where -ld option displays information of /etc directory.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls -l /etc/ total 2020 drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4096 Jan 14 08:23 abrt drwxr-xr-x. 4 root root 4096 Jan 14 08:27 acpi -rw-r&mdash r--. 1 root root 51 Feb 1 01:23 adjtime . . -rw-r&mdash r--. 1 root root 51 Jul 24 2015 yum.conf drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4096 Feb 3 13:41 yum.repos.d [user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls &ndash ld /etc/ drwxr-xr-x. 116 root root 12288 Feb 24 17:28 /etc/
To display the help page for ls commands
Using -help option in ls command it will show helper guide with examples.
Example
[user1@linuxhelp Desktop]$ ls --help
Usage: ls [OPTION]... [FILE]...
List information about the FILEs (the current directory by default).
Sort entries alphabetically if none of -cftuvSUX nor --sort.
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
--help display this help and exit
--version output version information and exit
SIZE may be (or may be an integer optionally followed by) one of following:
kB 1000, K 1024, MB 1000*1000, M 1024*1024, and so on for G, T, P, E, Z, Y.
By default, color is not used to distinguish types of files. That is
equivalent to using --color=none. Using the --color option without the
optional WHEN argument is equivalent to using --color=always. With
--color=auto, color codes are output only if standard output is connected
to a terminal (tty). The environment variable LS_COLORS can influence the
colors, and can be set easily by the dircolors command.
Exit status is 0 if OK, 1 if minor problems, 2 if serious trouble.
Report bugs to < bug-coreutils@gnu.org> .