VDIR(1)

📦
version 9.12 · 23 versions
, in arch rolling

👑 VDIR — the group chat where your files finally get listed

okay bestie so this is vdir, from the User Commands manual section, and honestly? it's ls's slightly more extra cousin. same energy, same flags, but it defaults to a long listing like it's showing off. no cap. 💅

✨ NAME ✨

vdir — list directory contents 🗂️✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

vdir [OPTION]... [FILE]...

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so it lists info about the FILEs you give it, and if you give it nothing it just does the current directory by default. periodt.

it sorts entries alphabetically — unless you specify one of -cftuvSUX or --sort. so if you're like "why is my stuff in a weird order" it's because you asked for it, bestie. 🫶

also, important vibe check: mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. so don't come at it with half an argument and expect the rest for free. it's giving "read the syllabus." 📚

✨ OPTIONS ✨

so many options. like, an unreasonable amount. but we're gonna go through every single one because I would never skip a detail on you. 🎀

  • -a, --all — do not ignore entries starting with . — yes queen, show me the hidden ones 🙈
  • -A, --almost-all — do not list implied . and .. — all the hidden files, but skip the two fake ones
  • --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 ~ — sorry backup files, not today 💀
  • -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 (no sorting, no hiding, we're feral now)
  • -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 🗂️ first, always
  • -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. 🫶 (human-readable? more like bestie-readable)
  • --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) — so -a/-A win the argument, iykyk
  • --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 (the classic, the icon, the moment)
  • -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 (down the rabbit hole we go 🐇)
  • -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

🧚 SIZE, TIME_STYLE, WHEN & COLOR (the fine print, but make it cute) 🧚

🌈 The SIZE argument

the SIZE argument is an integer and an 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. so many letters, so much storage, we love to see it 💾

⏰ The TIME_STYLE argument

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, bestie

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: 🚦

  1. 0 — if OK 🫶
  2. 1 — if minor problems (e.g., cannot access subdirectory) 😬
  3. 2 — if serious trouble (e.g., cannot access command-line argument) 💀

✍️ AUTHOR ✍️

written by Richard M. Stallman and David MacKenzie. legends, honestly. 👑

🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

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. (say it with me: NO WARRANTY. it's giving "you break it, you bought it." 🙈)

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

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

okay and that's the whole page bestie!! 🎀 this is GNU coreutils version 9.12, from September 2026, and it lives in section 1 of the manual. go forth and list your directories with main character energy. slay 💅✨🦋

📦 where this page comes from