LS(1)

📦
version 9.12 · 29 versions
, in arch rolling

✨ LS(1) — the list directory contents era ✨

okay bestie so this is ls, from the User Commands manual. it's THE command. the one you type before you even know what you're looking for. main character energy fr fr 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

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

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

List information about the *FILE*s — or the current directory if you don't give it any, because ls is nothing if not accommodating 🫶

Entries get sorted alphabetically, unless you pass any of -cftuvSUX or --sort. then, bestie, it's doing something else entirely.

💀 real talk: mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. no shortcuts on the shortcuts.

🎀 OPTIONS (the whole entire list, no skips, i would never)

  • -a, --all — do not ignore entries starting with . (yes, the hidden ones, the sneaky ones, all of them)
  • -A, --almost-all — do not list implied . and .. (so it's like -a but it has boundaries)
  • --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; otherwise: 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 — like -F, except do not append *
  • --format=WORD — across, horizontal (-x), commas (-m), 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 directory
  • --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 information 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, status; 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 format, explained

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 format, explained

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

🌈 the WHEN argument

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

🎨 color, and the whole vibe check

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)
😭 yes bestie, it really will hit you with a 2. it's not being dramatic, it's being accurate.

💫 AUTHOR 💫

Written by Richard M. Stallman and David MacKenzie. legends, honestly.

📣 REPORTING BUGS 📣

Report bugs to: <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.

Report any translation bugs to: <https://translationproject.org/team/>.

GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>

General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

Copyright © 2026 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.

💀 no cap, that last one is in all caps in the original and it stays in all caps here. it means it.

🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ls>

or available locally via: info '(coreutils) ls invocation'

and that's the whole page, bestie 💅 this was GNU coreutils 9.12, dated September 2026, and it's giving LS(1) in the User Commands section. go list some directories, you absolute icon 🎀✨

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