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LS(1)				 User Commands				 LS(1)

NAME
       ls - list directory contents

SYNOPSIS
       ls [OPTION]... [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION
       List  information  about	 the FILEs (the	current	directory by default).
       Sort entries alphabetically if none of -cftuvSUX	nor --sort  is	speci-
       fied.

       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

       -b, --escape
	      print C-style escapes for	nongraphic characters

       --block-size=SIZE
	      with  -l,	 scale	sizes  by  SIZE	 when  printing	 them;	 e.g.,
	      '--block-size=M';	see SIZE format	below

       -B, --ignore-backups
	      do not list implied entries ending with ~

       -c     with  -lt: sort by, and show, ctime (time	of last	change of file
	      status information); with	-l: show ctime and sort	by name;  oth-
	      erwise: sort by ctime, newest first

       -C     list entries by columns

       --color[=WHEN]
	      color the	output WHEN; more info below

       -d, --directory
	      list directories themselves, not their contents

       -D, --dired
	      generate output designed for Emacs' dired	mode

       -f     same as -a -U

       -F, --classify[=WHEN]
	      append indicator (one of */=>@|) to entries WHEN

       --file-type
	      likewise,	except do not append '*'

       --format=WORD
	      across  -x, commas -m, horizontal	-x, long -l, single-column -1,
	      verbose -l, vertical -C

       --full-time
	      like -l --time-style=full-iso

       -g     like -l, but do not list owner

       --group-directories-first
	      group directories	before files

       -G, --no-group
	      in a long	listing, don't print group names

       -h, --human-readable
	      with -l and -s, print sizes like 1K 234M 2G etc.

       --si   likewise,	but use	powers of 1000 not 1024

       -H, --dereference-command-line
	      follow symbolic links listed on the command line

       --dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir
	      follow each command line symbolic	link that points to  a	direc-
	      tory

       --hide=PATTERN
	      do  not  list implied entries matching shell PATTERN (overridden
	      by -a or -A)

       --hyperlink[=WHEN]
	      hyperlink	file names WHEN

       --indicator-style=WORD
	      append indicator with style WORD to entry	names: none (default),
	      slash (-p), file-type (--file-type), classify (-F)

       -i, --inode
	      print the	index number of	each file

       -I, --ignore=PATTERN
	      do not list implied entries matching shell PATTERN

       -k, --kibibytes
	      default to 1024-byte blocks for file  system  usage;  used  only
	      with -s and per directory	totals

       -l     use a long listing format

       -L, --dereference
	      when showing file	information for	a symbolic link, show informa-
	      tion  for	 the file the link references rather than for the link
	      itself

       -m     fill width with a	comma separated	list of	entries

       -n, --numeric-uid-gid
	      like -l, but list	numeric	user and group IDs

       -N, --literal
	      print entry names	without	quoting

       -o     like -l, but do not list group information

       -p, --indicator-style=slash
	      append / indicator to directories

       -q, --hide-control-chars
	      print ? instead of nongraphic characters

       --show-control-chars
	      show nongraphic characters as-is (the default, unless program is
	      'ls' and output is a terminal)

       -Q, --quote-name
	      enclose entry names in double quotes

       --quoting-style=WORD
	      use quoting style	WORD for entry names: literal, locale,	shell,
	      shell-always,   shell-escape,   shell-escape-always,  c,	escape
	      (overrides QUOTING_STYLE environment variable)

       -r, --reverse
	      reverse order while sorting

       -R, --recursive
	      list subdirectories recursively

       -s, --size
	      print the	allocated size of each file, in	blocks

       -S     sort by file size, largest first

       --sort=WORD
	      change default 'name' sort to WORD: none (-U), size  (-S),  time
	      (-t), version (-v), extension (-X), name,	width

       --time=WORD
	      select  which  timestamp	used  to  display or sort; access time
	      (-u): atime, access, use;	metadata change	time (-c): ctime, sta-
	      tus; modified time (default): mtime, modification;  birth	 time:
	      birth, creation;

	      with  -l,	 WORD determines which time to show; with --sort=time,
	      sort by WORD (newest first)

       --time-style=TIME_STYLE
	      time/date	format with -l;	see TIME_STYLE below

       -t     sort by time, newest first; see --time

       -T, --tabsize=COLS
	      assume tab stops at each COLS instead of 8

       -u     with -lt:	sort by, and show, access time;	with -l:  show	access
	      time  and	 sort  by name;	otherwise: sort	by access time,	newest
	      first

       -U     do not sort directory entries

       -v     natural sort of (version)	numbers	within text

       -w, --width=COLS
	      set output width to COLS.	 0 means no limit

       -x     list entries by lines instead of by columns

       -X     sort alphabetically by entry extension

       -Z, --context
	      print any	security context of each file

       --zero end each output line with	NUL, not newline

       -1     list one file per	line

       --help display this help	and exit

       --version
	      output version information and exit

       The SIZE	argument is an integer and  optional  unit  (example:  10K  is
       10*1024).   Units are K,M,G,T,P,E,Z,Y,R,Q (powers of 1024) or KB,MB,...
       (powers of 1000).  Binary prefixes can be used, too: KiB=K, MiB=M,  and
       so on.

       The  TIME_STYLE	argument  can  be  full-iso, long-iso, iso, locale, or
       +FORMAT.	 FORMAT	is interpreted like in date(1).	  If  FORMAT  is  FOR-
       MAT1<newline>FORMAT2, then FORMAT1 applies to non-recent	files and FOR-
       MAT2  to	 recent	files.	TIME_STYLE prefixed with 'posix-' takes	effect
       only outside the	POSIX locale.  Also the	TIME_STYLE  environment	 vari-
       able sets the default style to use.

       The  WHEN  argument  defaults  to  'always'  and	 can also be 'auto' or
       'never'.

       Using color to distinguish file types is	disabled both by  default  and
       with  --color=never.  With --color=auto,	ls emits color codes only when
       standard	output is connected to a terminal.  The	LS_COLORS  environment
       variable	 can change the	settings.  Use the dircolors(1)	command	to set
       it.

   Exit	status:
       0      if OK,

       1      if minor problems	(e.g., cannot access subdirectory),

       2      if serious trouble (e.g.,	cannot access command-line argument).

AUTHOR
       Written by Richard M. Stallman and David	MacKenzie.

REPORTING BUGS
       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2025 Free Software	Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+:  GNU
       GPL version 3 or	later <https://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.

SEE ALSO
       dircolors(1)

       Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ls>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) ls invocation'

GNU coreutils 9.6		 January 2025				 LS(1)

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