Basic ls Command Examples in Linux . dEexams.com

ls command is one of the most frequently used command in Linux.

We use ls command daily basis and frequently even though we may not aware and never use all the ls option available.

List Files using ls with no option

ls with no option list files and directories in bare format where we won't be able to view details like file types, size, modified date and time, permission and links etc.
```
# ls

dos      file10   file3    file6    file8    hello.c
file1    file2    file4    file7    file9
```

List Files With option -l

Here, ls -l (-l is character not one) shows file or directory, size, modified date and time, file or folder name and owner of file and its permission.

# ls -l

total 8
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root           163 Aug 21  2011 dos
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:39 file1
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file10
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:39 file2
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:39 file3
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file4
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file6
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file7
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file8
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file9
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           242 Jul 15  2017 hello.c

View Hidden Files

List all files including hidden file starting with ‘.‘.

# ls -a

.            .xsession    file10       file4        file8
..           dos          file2        file6        file9
.Xauthority  file1        file3        file7        hello.c

List Files with Human Readable Format with option -lh

With combination of -lh option, shows sizes in human readable format.

# ls -lh

total 8
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root         163 Aug 21  2011 dos
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           0 Feb  2 22:39 file1
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           0 Feb  2 22:56 file10
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           0 Feb  2 22:39 file2
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           0 Feb  2 22:39 file3
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           0 Feb  2 22:56 file4
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           0 Feb  2 22:56 file6
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           0 Feb  2 22:56 file7
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           0 Feb  2 22:56 file8
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           0 Feb  2 22:56 file9
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         242 Jul 15  2017 hello.c

List Files and Directories with ‘/’ Character at the end

Using -F option with ls command, will add the ‘/’ Character at the end each directory.
```
# ls -F

dir1/    dos/     file10   file3    file6    file8    hello.c
dir2/    file1    file2    file4    file7    file9
```

List Files in Reverse Order

The following command with ls -r option display files and directories in reverse order.

# ls -r

hello.c  file8    file6    file3    file10   dos      dir1
file9    file7    file4    file2    file1    dir2

Recursively list Sub-Directories

ls -R option will list very long listing directory trees. See an example of output of the command.

# ls -R

.:
dir1     dos      file10   file3    file6    file8    hello.c
dir2     file1    file2    file4    file7    file9
 
./dir1:
 
./dir2:
 
./dos:
asm-1.9     asm.com     debug.com   hpigot.com  hpigot.s
 
./dos/asm-1.9:
Changelog    display.s    expr.s       lister.s     readme.txt   symtab.i
asm.s        dos.i        input.s      message.s    support.s    symtab.s
direct.s     equ.s        license.txt  output.s     symbols.s

Reverse Output Order

With combination of -ltr will shows latest modification file or directory date as last.

# ls -ltr

total 16
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root           163 Aug 21  2011 dos
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           242 Jul 15  2017 hello.c
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:39 file3
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:39 file2
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:39 file1
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file9
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file8
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file7
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file6
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file4
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file10
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root            37 Feb  2 23:03 dir2
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root            37 Feb  2 23:03 dir1

Sort Files by File Size

With combination of -lS displays file size in order, will display big in size first.

# ls -lS

total 16
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           242 Jul 15  2017 hello.c
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root           163 Aug 21  2011 dos
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root            37 Feb  2 23:03 dir1
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root            37 Feb  2 23:03 dir2
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:39 file1
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file10
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:39 file2
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:39 file3
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file4
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file6
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file7
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file8
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Feb  2 22:56 file9

Display Inode number of File or Directory

We can see some number printed before file / directory name. With -i options list file / directory with inode number.

# ls -i

  11596 dir1       11595 file10     11591 file6        668 hello.c
  11597 dir2       11588 file2      11592 file7
     644 dos        11589 file3      11593 file8
  11587 file1      11590 file4      11594 file9

Shows version of ls command

Check version of ls command.

# ls --version

ls (GNU coreutils) 8.4
Copyright (C) 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later .
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.

Show Help Page

List help page of ls command with their option.
```
# ls --help

Usage: ls [OPTION]... [FILE]...
```

List Directory Information

With ls -l command list files under directory /tmp. Wherein with -ld parameters displays information of /tmp directory.

# ls -l /tmp
total 4
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root           831 Jul  8  2017 fontconfig

# ls -ld /tmp/

drwxrwxrwt    3 root     root            64 Aug  5  2017 /tmp/

Display UID and GID of Files

To display UID and GID of files and directories. use option -n with ls command.

# ls -n

total 20
drwxr-xr-x    2 0        0               37 Feb  2 23:03 dir1
drwxr-xr-x    2 0        0               37 Feb  2 23:03 dir2
drwxr-xr-x    3 0        0              163 Aug 21  2011 dos
-rw-r--r--    1 0        0                0 Feb  2 22:39 file1
-rw-r--r--    1 0        0                0 Feb  2 22:56 file10
-rw-r--r--    1 0        0                0 Feb  2 22:39 file2
-rw-r--r--    1 0        0                0 Feb  2 22:39 file3
-rw-r--r--    1 0        0                0 Feb  2 22:56 file4
-rw-r--r--    1 0        0                0 Feb  2 22:56 file6
-rw-r--r--    1 0        0                0 Feb  2 22:56 file7
-rw-r--r--    1 0        0                0 Feb  2 22:56 file8
-rw-r--r--    1 0        0                0 Feb  2 22:56 file9
-rw-r--r--    1 0        0              242 Jul 15  2017 hello.c
drwxr-xr-x    2 0        0               81 Feb  2 23:13 tmp

ls command and its Aliases

We have made alias for ls command, when we execute ls command it’ll take -l option by default and display long listing as mentioned earlier.
```
# alias ls="ls -l"
```
Note: We can see number of alias available in your system with below alias command and same can be unalias as shown below example.
```
# alias

alias cp='cp -i'
alias l='ls -d * --color=auto'
alias ll='ls -l --color=auto'
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
alias mv='mv -i'
alias rm='rm -i'
alias which='alias | /usr/bin/which --tty-only --read-alias --show-dot --show-tilde'
```
To remove an alias previously defined, just use the unalias command.
```
# unalias ls
```

Uk01 on Oct 14, 2015 at 12:02 am

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