1.\"- 2.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994 3.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 4.\" 5.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by 6.\" the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. 7.\" 8.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 9.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 10.\" are met: 11.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 13.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 14.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 15.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 16.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 17.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 18.\" without specific prior written permission. 19.\" 20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 30.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 31.\" 32.Dd July 22, 2024 33.Dt LS 1 34.Os 35.Sh NAME 36.Nm ls 37.Nd list directory contents 38.Sh SYNOPSIS 39.Nm 40.Op Fl ABCFGHILPRSTUWZabcdfghiklmnopqrstuvwxy1\&, 41.Op Fl -color Ns = Ns Ar when 42.Op Fl D Ar format 43.Op Ar 44.Sh DESCRIPTION 45For each operand that names a 46.Ar file 47of a type other than 48directory, 49.Nm 50displays its name as well as any requested, 51associated information. 52For each operand that names a 53.Ar file 54of type directory, 55.Nm 56displays the names of files contained 57within that directory, as well as any requested, associated 58information. 59.Pp 60If no operands are given, the contents of the current 61directory are displayed. 62If more than one operand is given, 63non-directory operands are displayed first; directory 64and non-directory operands are sorted separately and in 65lexicographical order. 66.Pp 67The following options are available: 68.Bl -tag -width indent 69.It Fl A 70Include directory entries whose names begin with a 71dot 72.Pq Sq Pa \&. 73except for 74.Pa \&. 75and 76.Pa .. . 77Automatically set for the super-user unless 78.Fl I 79is specified. 80.It Fl B 81Force printing of non-printable characters (as defined by 82.Xr ctype 3 83and current locale settings) in file names as 84.Li \e Ns Va xxx , 85where 86.Va xxx 87is the numeric value of the character in octal. 88This option is not defined in 89.St -p1003.1-2008 . 90.It Fl C 91Force multi-column output; this is the default when output is to a terminal. 92.It Fl D Ar format 93When printing in the long 94.Pq Fl l 95format, use 96.Ar format 97to format the date and time output. 98The argument 99.Ar format 100is a string used by 101.Xr strftime 3 . 102Depending on the choice of format string, this may result in a 103different number of columns in the output. 104This option overrides the 105.Fl T 106option. 107This option is not defined in 108.St -p1003.1-2008 . 109.It Fl F 110Display a slash 111.Pq Ql / 112immediately after each pathname that is a directory, 113an asterisk 114.Pq Ql * 115after each that is executable, 116an at sign 117.Pq Ql @ 118after each symbolic link, 119an equals sign 120.Pq Ql = 121after each socket, 122a percent sign 123.Pq Ql % 124after each whiteout, 125and a vertical bar 126.Pq Ql \&| 127after each that is a 128.Tn FIFO . 129.It Fl G 130Enable colorized output. 131This option is equivalent to defining 132.Ev CLICOLOR 133or 134.Ev COLORTERM 135in the environment and setting 136.Fl -color Ns = Ns Ar auto . 137(See below.) 138This functionality can be compiled out by removing the definition of 139.Ev COLORLS . 140This option is not defined in 141.St -p1003.1-2008 . 142.It Fl H 143Symbolic links on the command line are followed. 144This option is assumed if 145none of the 146.Fl F , d , 147or 148.Fl l 149options are specified. 150.It Fl I 151Prevent 152.Fl A 153from being automatically set for the super-user. 154This option is not defined in 155.St -p1003.1-2008 . 156.It Fl L 157If argument is a symbolic link, list the file or directory the link references 158rather than the link itself. 159This option cancels the 160.Fl P 161option. 162.It Fl P 163If argument is a symbolic link, list the link itself rather than the 164object the link references. 165This option cancels the 166.Fl H 167and 168.Fl L 169options. 170.It Fl R 171Recursively list subdirectories encountered. 172.It Fl S 173Sort by size (largest file first) before sorting the operands in 174lexicographical order. 175.It Fl T 176When printing in the long 177.Pq Fl l 178format, display complete time information for the file, including 179month, day, hour, minute, second, and year. 180The 181.Fl D 182option gives even more control over the output format. 183This option is not defined in 184.St -p1003.1-2008 . 185.It Fl U 186Use time when file was created for sorting or printing. 187This option is not defined in 188.St -p1003.1-2008 . 189.It Fl W 190Display whiteouts when scanning directories. 191This option is not defined in 192.St -p1003.1-2008 . 193.It Fl Z 194Display each file's MAC label; see 195.Xr maclabel 7 . 196This option is not defined in 197.St -p1003.1-2008 . 198.It Fl a 199Include directory entries whose names begin with a 200dot 201.Pq Sq Pa \&. . 202.It Fl b 203As 204.Fl B , 205but use 206.Tn C 207escape codes whenever possible. 208This option is not defined in 209.St -p1003.1-2008 . 210.It Fl c 211Use time when file status was last changed for sorting or printing. 212.It Fl -color Ns = Ns Ar when 213Output colored escape sequences based on 214.Ar when , 215which may be set to either 216.Cm always , 217.Cm auto , 218or 219.Cm never . 220.Pp 221.Cm always 222will make 223.Nm 224always output color. 225If 226.Ev TERM 227is unset or set to an invalid terminal, then 228.Nm 229will fall back to explicit 230.Tn ANSI 231escape sequences without the help of 232.Xr termcap 5 . 233.Cm always 234is the default if 235.Fl -color 236is specified without an argument. 237.Pp 238.Cm auto 239will make 240.Nm 241output escape sequences based on 242.Xr termcap 5 , 243but only if 244.Dv stdout 245is a tty and either the 246.Fl G 247flag is specified or one of the environment variables 248.Ev COLORTERM 249or 250.Ev CLICOLOR 251is set and not empty. 252.Pp 253.Cm never 254will disable color regardless of environment variables. 255.Cm never 256is the default when neither 257.Fl -color 258nor 259.Fl G 260is specified. 261.Pp 262For compatibility with GNU coreutils, 263.Nm 264supports 265.Cm yes 266or 267.Cm force 268as equivalent to 269.Cm always , 270.Cm no 271or 272.Cm none 273as equivalent to 274.Cm never , 275and 276.Cm tty 277or 278.Cm if-tty 279as equivalent to 280.Cm auto . 281.It Fl d 282Directories are listed as plain files (not searched recursively). 283.It Fl f 284Output is not sorted. 285This option turns on 286.Fl a . 287It also negates the effect of the 288.Fl r , 289.Fl S 290and 291.Fl t 292options. 293As allowed by 294.St -p1003.1-2008 , 295this option has no effect on the 296.Fl d , 297.Fl l , 298.Fl R 299and 300.Fl s 301options. 302.It Fl g 303Display the long 304.Pq Fl l 305format output without the file owner's name or number. 306.It Fl h 307When used with the 308.Fl l 309option, use unit suffixes: Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte 310and Petabyte in order to reduce the number of digits to four or fewer 311using base 2 for sizes. 312This option is not defined in 313.St -p1003.1-2008 . 314.It Fl i 315For each file, print the file's file serial number (inode number). 316.It Fl k 317This has the same effect as setting environment variable 318.Ev BLOCKSIZE 319to 1024, except that it also nullifies any 320.Fl h 321options to its left. 322.It Fl l 323(The lowercase letter 324.Dq ell . ) 325List files in the long format, as described in the 326.Sx The Long Format 327subsection below. 328.It Fl m 329Stream output format; list files across the page, separated by commas. 330.It Fl n 331Display user and group IDs numerically rather than converting to a user 332or group name in a long 333.Pq Fl l 334output. 335.It Fl o 336Include the file flags in a long 337.Pq Fl l 338output. 339This option is incompatible with 340.St -p1003.1-2008 . 341See 342.Xr chflags 1 343for a list of file flags and their meanings. 344.It Fl p 345Write a slash 346.Pq Ql / 347after each filename if that file is a directory. 348.It Fl q 349Force printing of non-graphic characters in file names as 350the character 351.Ql \&? ; 352this is the default when output is to a terminal. 353.It Fl r 354Reverse the order of the sort. 355.It Fl s 356Display the number of blocks used in the file system by each file. 357Block sizes and directory totals are handled as described in 358.Sx The Long Format 359subsection below, except (if the long format is not also requested) 360the directory totals are not output when the output is in a 361single column, even if multi-column output is requested. 362.It Fl t 363Sort by descending time modified (most recently modified first). 364If two files have the same modification timestamp, sort their names 365in ascending lexicographical order. 366The 367.Fl r 368option reverses both of these sort orders. 369.Pp 370Note that these sort orders are contradictory: the time sequence is in 371descending order, the lexicographical sort is in ascending order. 372This behavior is mandated by 373.St -p1003.2 . 374This feature can cause problems listing files stored with sequential names on 375FAT file systems, such as from digital cameras, where it is possible to have 376more than one image with the same timestamp. 377In such a case, the photos cannot be listed in the sequence in which 378they were taken. 379To ensure the same sort order for time and for lexicographical sorting, set the 380environment variable 381.Ev LS_SAMESORT 382or use the 383.Fl y 384option. 385This causes 386.Nm 387to reverse the lexicographical sort order when sorting files with the 388same modification timestamp. 389.It Fl u 390Use time of last access, 391instead of time of last modification 392of the file for sorting 393.Pq Fl t 394or printing 395.Pq Fl l . 396.It Fl v 397Sort following a natural ordering, using 398.Xr strverscmp 3 399instead of 400.Xr strcoll 3 401as the comparison function. 402E.g., files lexicographically ordered 403"bloem1", "bloem10", and "bloem9" would instead be ordered 404"bloem1", "bloem9", and "bloem10", as one would perhaps expect. 405.It Fl w 406Force raw printing of non-printable characters. 407This is the default 408when output is not to a terminal. 409This option is not defined in 410.St -p1003.1-2001 . 411.It Fl x 412The same as 413.Fl C , 414except that the multi-column output is produced with entries sorted 415across, rather than down, the columns. 416.It Fl y 417When the 418.Fl t 419option is set, sort the alphabetical output in the same order as the time output. 420This has the same effect as setting 421.Ev LS_SAMESORT . 422See the description of the 423.Fl t 424option for more details. 425This option is not defined in 426.St -p1003.1-2001 . 427.It Fl 1 428(The numeric digit 429.Dq one . ) 430Force output to be 431one entry per line. 432This is the default when 433output is not to a terminal. 434.It Fl , 435(Comma) When the 436.Fl l 437or 438.Fl s 439option is set, print file sizes grouped and separated by thousands using the 440non-monetary separator returned by 441.Xr localeconv 3 , 442typically a comma or period. 443If no locale is set, or the locale does not have a non-monetary separator, this 444option has no effect. 445This option is not defined in 446.St -p1003.1-2001 . 447.El 448.Pp 449The 450.Fl 1 , C , x , 451and 452.Fl l 453options all override each other; the last one specified determines 454the format used. 455.Pp 456The 457.Fl c , u , 458and 459.Fl U 460options all override each other; the last one specified determines 461the file time used. 462.Pp 463The 464.Fl S , t 465and 466.Fl v 467options override each other; the last one specified determines 468the sort order used. 469.Pp 470The 471.Fl B , b , w , 472and 473.Fl q 474options all override each other; the last one specified determines 475the format used for non-printable characters. 476.Pp 477The 478.Fl H , L 479and 480.Fl P 481options all override each other (either partially or fully); they 482are applied in the order specified. 483.Pp 484By default, 485.Nm 486lists one entry per line to standard 487output; the exceptions are to terminals or when the 488.Fl C 489or 490.Fl x 491options are specified. 492.Pp 493File information is displayed with one or more 494.Ao blank Ac Ns s 495separating the information associated with the 496.Fl i , s , 497and 498.Fl l 499options. 500.Ss The Long Format 501If the 502.Fl l 503option is given, the following information 504is displayed for each file: 505file mode, 506number of links, owner name, group name, 507MAC label, 508number of bytes in the file, abbreviated 509month, day-of-month file was last modified, 510hour file last modified, minute file last 511modified, and the pathname. 512.Pp 513If the modification time of the file is more than 6 months 514in the past or future, and the 515.Fl D 516or 517.Fl T 518are not specified, 519then the year of the last modification 520is displayed in place of the hour and minute fields. 521.Pp 522If the owner or group names are not a known user or group name, 523or the 524.Fl n 525option is given, 526the numeric ID's are displayed. 527.Pp 528If the file is a character special or block special file, 529the device number for the file is displayed in the size field. 530If the file is a symbolic link the pathname of the 531linked-to file is preceded by 532.Dq Li -> . 533.Pp 534The listing of a directory's contents is preceded 535by a labeled total number of blocks used in the file system by the files 536which are listed as the directory's contents 537(which may or may not include 538.Pa \&. 539and 540.Pa .. 541and other files which start with a dot, depending on other options). 542.Pp 543The default block size is 512 bytes. 544The block size may be set with option 545.Fl k 546or environment variable 547.Ev BLOCKSIZE . 548Numbers of blocks in the output will have been rounded up so the 549numbers of bytes is at least as many as used by the corresponding 550file system blocks (which might have a different size). 551.Pp 552The file mode printed under the 553.Fl l 554option consists of the 555entry type and the permissions. 556The entry type character describes the type of file, as 557follows: 558.Pp 559.Bl -tag -width 4n -offset indent -compact 560.It Sy \- 561Regular file. 562.It Sy b 563Block special file. 564.It Sy c 565Character special file. 566.It Sy d 567Directory. 568.It Sy l 569Symbolic link. 570.It Sy p 571.Tn FIFO . 572.It Sy s 573Socket. 574.It Sy w 575Whiteout. 576.El 577.Pp 578The next three fields 579are three characters each: 580owner permissions, 581group permissions, and 582other permissions. 583Each field has three character positions: 584.Bl -enum -offset indent 585.It 586If 587.Sy r , 588the file is readable; if 589.Sy \- , 590it is not readable. 591.It 592If 593.Sy w , 594the file is writable; if 595.Sy \- , 596it is not writable. 597.It 598The first of the following that applies: 599.Bl -tag -width 4n -offset indent 600.It Sy S 601If in the owner permissions, the file is not executable and 602set-user-ID mode is set. 603If in the group permissions, the file is not executable 604and set-group-ID mode is set. 605.It Sy s 606If in the owner permissions, the file is executable 607and set-user-ID mode is set. 608If in the group permissions, the file is executable 609and setgroup-ID mode is set. 610.It Sy x 611The file is executable or the directory is 612searchable. 613.It Sy \- 614The file is neither readable, writable, executable, 615nor set-user-ID nor set-group-ID mode, nor sticky. 616(See below.) 617.El 618.Pp 619These next two apply only to the third character in the last group 620(other permissions). 621.Bl -tag -width 4n -offset indent 622.It Sy T 623The sticky bit is set 624(mode 625.Li 1000 ) , 626but not execute or search permission. 627(See 628.Xr chmod 1 629or 630.Xr sticky 7 . ) 631.It Sy t 632The sticky bit is set (mode 633.Li 1000 ) , 634and is searchable or executable. 635(See 636.Xr chmod 1 637or 638.Xr sticky 7 . ) 639.El 640.El 641.Pp 642The next field contains a 643plus 644.Pq Ql + 645character if the file has an ACL, or a 646space 647.Pq Ql " " 648if it does not. 649The 650.Nm 651utility does not show the actual ACL; 652use 653.Xr getfacl 1 654to do this. 655.Sh ENVIRONMENT 656The following environment variables affect the execution of 657.Nm : 658.Bl -tag -width ".Ev CLICOLOR_FORCE" 659.It Ev BLOCKSIZE 660If this is set, its value, rounded up to 512 or down to a 661multiple of 512, will be used as the block size in bytes by the 662.Fl l 663and 664.Fl s 665options. 666See 667.Sx The Long Format 668subsection for more information. 669.It Ev CLICOLOR 670Use 671.Tn ANSI 672color sequences to distinguish file types. 673See 674.Ev LSCOLORS 675below. 676In addition to the file types mentioned in the 677.Fl F 678option some extra attributes (setuid bit set, etc.) are also displayed. 679The colorization is dependent on a terminal type with the proper 680.Xr termcap 5 681capabilities. 682The default 683.Dq Li cons25 684console has the proper capabilities, 685but to display the colors in an 686.Xr xterm 1 Pq Pa ports/x11/xterm , 687for example, 688the 689.Ev TERM 690variable must be set to 691.Dq Li xterm-color . 692Other terminal types may require similar adjustments. 693Colorization 694is silently disabled if the output is not directed to a terminal 695unless the 696.Ev CLICOLOR_FORCE 697variable is defined or 698.Fl -color 699is set to 700.Dq always . 701.It Ev CLICOLOR_FORCE 702Color sequences are normally disabled if the output is not directed to 703a terminal. 704This can be overridden by setting this variable. 705The 706.Ev TERM 707variable still needs to reference a color capable terminal however 708otherwise it is not possible to determine which color sequences to 709use. 710.It Ev COLORTERM 711See description for 712.Ev CLICOLOR 713above. 714.It Ev COLUMNS 715If this variable contains a string representing a 716decimal integer, it is used as the 717column position width for displaying 718multiple-text-column output. 719The 720.Nm 721utility calculates how 722many pathname text columns to display 723based on the width provided. 724(See 725.Fl C 726and 727.Fl x . ) 728.It Ev LANG 729The locale to use when determining the order of day and month in the long 730.Fl l 731format output. 732See 733.Xr environ 7 734for more information. 735.It Ev LSCOLORS 736The value of this variable describes what color to use for which 737attribute when colors are enabled with 738.Ev CLICOLOR 739or 740.Ev COLORTERM . 741This string is a concatenation of pairs of the format 742.Ar f Ns Ar b , 743where 744.Ar f 745is the foreground color and 746.Ar b 747is the background color. 748When the background color is capitalized, the text is underlined. 749.Pp 750The color designators are as follows: 751.Pp 752.Bl -tag -width 4n -offset indent -compact 753.It Sy a 754black 755.It Sy b 756red 757.It Sy c 758green 759.It Sy d 760brown 761.It Sy e 762blue 763.It Sy f 764magenta 765.It Sy g 766cyan 767.It Sy h 768light grey 769.It Sy A 770bold or underlined black, usually shows up as dark grey 771.It Sy B 772bold or underlined red 773.It Sy C 774bold or underlined green 775.It Sy D 776bold or underlined brown, usually shows up as yellow 777.It Sy E 778bold or underlined blue 779.It Sy F 780bold or underlined magenta 781.It Sy G 782bold or underlined cyan 783.It Sy H 784bold or underlined light grey; looks like bright white 785.It Sy x 786default foreground or background 787.It Sy X 788default foreground or background, with an underline or bold 789.El 790.Pp 791Note that the above are standard 792.Tn ANSI 793colors. 794The actual display may differ 795depending on the color capabilities of the terminal in use. 796.Pp 797The order of the attributes are as follows: 798.Pp 799.Bl -enum -offset indent -compact 800.It 801directory 802.It 803symbolic link 804.It 805socket 806.It 807pipe 808.It 809executable 810.It 811block special 812.It 813character special 814.It 815executable with setuid bit set 816.It 817executable with setgid bit set 818.It 819directory writable to others, with sticky bit 820.It 821directory writable to others, without sticky bit 822.El 823.Pp 824The default is 825.Qq "exfxcxdxbxegedabagacad" , 826i.e., blue foreground and 827default background for regular directories, black foreground and red 828background for setuid executables, etc. 829.It Ev LS_COLWIDTHS 830If this variable is set, it is considered to be a 831colon-delimited list of minimum column widths. 832Unreasonable 833and insufficient widths are ignored (thus zero signifies 834a dynamically sized column). 835Not all columns have changeable widths. 836The fields are, 837in order: inode, block count, number of links, user name, 838group name, flags, file size, file name. 839.It Ev LS_SAMESORT 840If this variable is set, the 841.Fl t 842option sorts the names of files with the same modification timestamp in the same 843sense as the time sort. 844See the description of the 845.Fl t 846option for more details. 847.It Ev TERM 848The 849.Ev CLICOLOR 850and 851.Ev COLORTERM 852functionality depends on a terminal type with color capabilities. 853.It Ev TZ 854The timezone to use when displaying dates. 855See 856.Xr environ 7 857for more information. 858.El 859.Sh EXIT STATUS 860.Ex -std 861.Sh EXAMPLES 862List the contents of the current working directory in long format: 863.Pp 864.Dl $ ls -l 865.Pp 866In addition to listing the contents of the current working directory in 867long format, show inode numbers, file flags (see 868.Xr chflags 1 ) , 869and suffix each filename with a symbol representing its file type: 870.Pp 871.Dl $ ls -lioF 872.Pp 873List the files in 874.Pa /var/log , 875sorting the output such that the mostly recently modified entries are 876printed first: 877.Pp 878.Dl $ ls -lt /var/log 879.Sh COMPATIBILITY 880The group field is now automatically included in the long listing for 881files in order to be compatible with the 882.St -p1003.2 883specification. 884.Sh SEE ALSO 885.Xr chflags 1 , 886.Xr chmod 1 , 887.Xr getfacl 1 , 888.Xr sort 1 , 889.Xr xterm 1 Pq Pa ports/x11/xterm , 890.Xr localeconv 3 , 891.Xr strcoll 3 , 892.Xr strftime 3 , 893.Xr strmode 3 , 894.Xr strverscmp 3 , 895.Xr termcap 5 , 896.Xr maclabel 7 , 897.Xr sticky 7 , 898.Xr symlink 7 , 899.Xr getfmac 8 900.Sh STANDARDS 901With the exception of options 902.Fl g , n 903and 904.Fl o , 905the 906.Nm 907utility conforms to 908.St -p1003.1-2001 909and 910.St -p1003.1-2008 . 911The options 912.Fl B , D , G , I , T , U , W , Z , b , h , v , w , y 913and 914.Fl , 915are non-standard extensions. 916.Pp 917The ACL support is compatible with 918.Tn IEEE 919Std\~1003.2c 920.Pq Dq Tn POSIX Ns .2c 921Draft\~17 922(withdrawn). 923.Sh HISTORY 924An 925.Nm 926command appeared in 927.At v1 . 928.Pp 929The 930.Fl v 931option was added in 932.Fx 13.2 . 933.Sh BUGS 934To maintain backward compatibility, the relationships between the many 935options are quite complex. 936.Pp 937The exception mentioned in the 938.Fl s 939option description might be a feature that was 940based on the fact that single-column output 941usually goes to something other than a terminal. 942It is debatable whether this is a design bug. 943.Pp 944.St -p1003.2 945mandates opposite sort orders for files with the same timestamp when 946sorting with the 947.Fl t 948option. 949