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HTML rendering created 2026-05-24 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | AUTHOR | REPORTING BUGS | COPYRIGHT | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
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DIR(1) User Commands DIR(1)
dir - list directory contents
dir [OPTION]... [FILE]...
List information about the FILEs (the current directory by
default). Sort entries alphabetically if none of -cftuvSUX nor
--sort is specified.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short
options too.
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-a\-a, --all]8;;\
do not ignore entries starting with .
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-A\-A, --almost-all]8;;\
do not list implied . and ..
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--author\--author]8;;\
with -l, print the author of each file
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-b\-b, --escape]8;;\
print C-style escapes for nongraphic characters
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--block-size\--block-size=SIZE]8;;\
with -l, scale sizes by SIZE when printing them; e.g.,
'--block-size=M'; see SIZE format below
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-B\-B, --ignore-backups]8;;\
do not list implied entries ending with ~
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-c\-c]8;;\ 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
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-C\-C]8;;\ list entries by columns
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--color\--color[=WHEN]]8;;\
color the output WHEN; more info below
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-d\-d, --directory]8;;\
list directories themselves, not their contents
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-D\-D, --dired]8;;\
generate output designed for Emacs' dired mode
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-f\-f]8;;\ same as -a -U
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-F\-F, --classify[=WHEN]]8;;\
append indicator (one of */=>@|) to entries WHEN
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--file-type\--file-type]8;;\
like -F, except do not append '*'
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--format\--format=WORD]8;;\
across,horizontal (-x), commas (-m), long (-l),
single-column (-1), verbose (-l), vertical (-C)
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--full-time\--full-time]8;;\
like -l --time-style=full-iso
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-g\-g]8;;\ like -l, but do not list owner
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--group-directories-first\--group-directories-first]8;;\
group directories before files
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-G\-G, --no-group]8;;\
in a long listing, don't print group names
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-h\-h, --human-readable]8;;\
with -l and -s, print sizes like 1K 234M 2G etc.
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--si\--si]8;;\ likewise, but use powers of 1000 not 1024
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-H\-H, --dereference-command-line]8;;\
follow symbolic links listed on the command line
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir\--dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir]8;;\
follow each command line symbolic link that points to a
directory
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--hide\--hide=PATTERN]8;;\
do not list implied entries matching shell PATTERN
(overridden by -a or -A)
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--hyperlink\--hyperlink[=WHEN]]8;;\
hyperlink file names WHEN
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--indicator-style\--indicator-style=WORD]8;;\
append indicator with style WORD to entry names: none
(default), slash (-p), file-type (--file-type), classify
(-F)
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-i\-i, --inode]8;;\
print the index number of each file
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-I\-I, --ignore=PATTERN]8;;\
do not list implied entries matching shell PATTERN
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-k\-k, --kibibytes]8;;\
default to 1024-byte blocks for file system usage; used
only with -s and per directory totals
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-l\-l]8;;\ use a long listing format
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-L\-L, --dereference]8;;\
when showing file information for a symbolic link, show
information for the file the link references rather than
for the link itself
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-m\-m]8;;\ fill width with a comma separated list of entries
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-n\-n, --numeric-uid-gid]8;;\
like -l, but list numeric user and group IDs
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-N\-N, --literal]8;;\
print entry names without quoting
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-o\-o]8;;\ like -l, but do not list group information
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-p\-p, --indicator-style=slash]8;;\
append / indicator to directories
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-q\-q, --hide-control-chars]8;;\
print ? instead of nongraphic characters
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--show-control-chars\--show-control-chars]8;;\
show nongraphic characters as-is; the default, unless
program is 'ls' and output is a terminal
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-Q\-Q, --quote-name]8;;\
enclose entry names in double quotes
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--quoting-style\--quoting-style=WORD]8;;\
use quoting style WORD for entry names: literal, locale,
shell, shell-always, shell-escape, shell-escape-always, c,
escape (overrides QUOTING_STYLE environment variable)
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-r\-r, --reverse]8;;\
reverse order while sorting
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-R\-R, --recursive]8;;\
list subdirectories recursively
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-s\-s, --size]8;;\
print the allocated size of each file, in blocks
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-S\-S]8;;\ sort by file size, largest first
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--sort\--sort=WORD]8;;\
change default 'name' sort to WORD: none (-U), size (-S),
time (-t), version (-v), extension (-X), name, width
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--time\--time=WORD]8;;\
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)
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--time-style\--time-style=TIME_STYLE]8;;\
time/date format with -l; see TIME_STYLE below
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-t\-t]8;;\ sort by time, newest first; see --time
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-T\-T, --tabsize=COLS]8;;\
assume tab stops at each COLS instead of 8
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-u\-u]8;;\ with -lt: sort by, and show, access time; with -l: show
access time and sort by name; otherwise: sort by access
time, newest first
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-U\-U]8;;\ do not sort directory entries
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-v\-v]8;;\ natural sort of (version) numbers within text
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-w\-w, --width=COLS]8;;\
set output width to COLS. 0 means no limit
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-x\-x]8;;\ list entries by lines instead of by columns
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-X\-X]8;;\ sort alphabetically by entry extension
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-Z\-Z, --context]8;;\
print any security context of each file
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--zero\--zero]8;;\ end each output line with NUL, not newline
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-1\-1]8;;\ list one file per line
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ls#ls--help\--help]8;;\ display this help and exit
]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ls#ls--version\--version]8;;\
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
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 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).
Written by Richard M. Stallman and David MacKenzie.
Report bugs to: bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Report any translation bugs to
<https://translationproject.org/team/>
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.
dircolors(1)
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/dir>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) dir invocation'
This page is part of the coreutils (basic file, shell and text
manipulation utilities) project. Information about the project
can be found at ⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/⟩. If you
have a bug report for this manual page, see
⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/⟩. This page was obtained
from the tarball coreutils-9.11.tar.xz fetched from
⟨http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/coreutils/⟩ on 2026-05-24. If you
discover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page,
or you believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the
page, or you have corrections or improvements to the information
in this COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page),
send a mail to man-pages@man7.org
GNU coreutils 9.11 April 2026 DIR(1)
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HTML rendering created 2026-05-24 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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