dir_colors(5) — Linux manual page

NAME | DESCRIPTION | FILES | NOTES | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

dir_colors(5)              File Formats Manual             dir_colors(5)

NAME         top

       dir_colors - configuration file for dircolors(1)

DESCRIPTION         top

       The program ls(1) uses the environment variable LS_COLORS to
       determine the colors in which the filenames are to be displayed.
       This environment variable is usually set by a command like

              eval `dircolors some_path/dir_colors`

       found in a system default shell initialization file, like
       /etc/profile or /etc/csh.cshrc.  (See also dircolors(1).)
       Usually, the file used here is /etc/DIR_COLORS and can be
       overridden by a .dir_colors file in one's home directory.

       This configuration file consists of several statements, one per
       line.  Anything right of a hash mark (#) is treated as a comment,
       if the hash mark is at the beginning of a line or is preceded by
       at least one whitespace.  Blank lines are ignored.

       The global section of the file consists of any statement before
       the first TERM statement.  Any statement in the global section of
       the file is considered valid for all terminal types.  Following
       the global section is one or more terminal-specific sections,
       preceded by one or more TERM statements which specify the
       terminal types (as given by the TERM environment variable) the
       following declarations apply to.  It is always possible to
       override a global declaration by a subsequent terminal-specific
       one.

       The following statements are recognized; case is insignificant:

       TERM terminal-type
              Starts a terminal-specific section and specifies which
              terminal it applies to.  Multiple TERM statements can be
              used to create a section which applies for several
              terminal types.

       COLOR yes|all|no|none|tty
              (Slackware only; ignored by GNU dircolors(1).)  Specifies
              that colorization should always be enabled (yes or all),
              never enabled (no or none), or enabled only if the output
              is a terminal (tty).  The default is no.

       EIGHTBIT yes|no
              (Slackware only; ignored by GNU dircolors(1).)  Specifies
              that eight-bit ISO/IEC 8859 characters should be enabled
              by default.  For compatibility reasons, this can also be
              specified as 1 for yes or 0 for no.  The default is no.

       OPTIONS options
              (Slackware only; ignored by GNU dircolors(1).)  Adds
              command-line options to the default ls command line.  The
              options can be any valid ls command-line options, and
              should include the leading minus sign.  Note that
              dircolors does not verify the validity of these options.

       NORMAL color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for normal (nonfilename) text.

              Synonym: NORM.

       FILE color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for a regular file.

       DIR color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for directories.

       LINK color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for a symbolic link.

              Synonyms: LNK, SYMLINK.

       ORPHAN color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for an orphaned symbolic link
              (one which points to a nonexistent file).  If this is
              unspecified, ls will use the LINK color instead.

       MISSING color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for a missing file (a nonexistent
              file which nevertheless has a symbolic link pointing to
              it).  If this is unspecified, ls will use the FILE color
              instead.

       FIFO color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for a FIFO (named pipe).

              Synonym: PIPE.

       SOCK color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for a socket.

       DOOR color-sequence
              (Supported since fileutils 4.1) Specifies the color used
              for a door (Solaris 2.5 and later).

       BLK color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for a block device special file.

              Synonym: BLOCK.

       CHR color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for a character device special
              file.

              Synonym: CHAR.

       EXEC color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for a file with the executable
              attribute set.

       SUID color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for a file with the set-user-ID
              attribute set.

              Synonym: SETUID.

       SGID color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for a file with the set-group-ID
              attribute set.

              Synonym: SETGID.

       STICKY color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for a directory with the sticky
              attribute set.

       STICKY_OTHER_WRITABLE color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for an other-writable directory
              with the executable attribute set.

              Synonym: OWT.

       OTHER_WRITABLE color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for an other-writable directory
              without the executable attribute set.

              Synonym: OWR.

       LEFTCODE color-sequence
              Specifies the left code for non-ISO/IEC 6429 terminals
              (see below).

              Synonym: LEFT.

       RIGHTCODE color-sequence
              Specifies the right code for non-ISO/IEC 6429 terminals
              (see below).

              Synonym: RIGHT.

       ENDCODE color-sequence
              Specifies the end code for non-ISO/IEC 6429 terminals (see
              below).

              Synonym: END.

       *extension color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for any file that ends in
              extension.

       .extension color-sequence
              Same as *.extension.  Specifies the color used for any
              file that ends in .extension.  Note that the period is
              included in the extension, which makes it impossible to
              specify an extension not starting with a period, such as ~
              for emacs backup files.  This form should be considered
              obsolete.

   ISO/IEC 6429 (ANSI) color sequences
       Most color-capable ASCII terminals today use ISO/IEC 6429 (ANSI)
       color sequences, and many common terminals without color
       capability, including xterm and the widely used and cloned DEC
       VT100, will recognize ISO/IEC 6429 color codes and harmlessly
       eliminate them from the output or emulate them.  ls uses
       ISO/IEC 6429 codes by default, assuming colorization is enabled.

       ISO/IEC 6429 color sequences are composed of sequences of numbers
       separated by semicolons.  The most common codes are:
               0   to restore default color
               1   for brighter colors
               4   for underlined text
               5   for flashing text
              30   for black foreground
              31   for red foreground
              32   for green foreground
              33   for yellow (or brown) foreground
              34   for blue foreground
              35   for purple foreground
              36   for cyan foreground
              37   for white (or gray) foreground
              40   for black background
              41   for red background
              42   for green background
              43   for yellow (or brown) background
              44   for blue background
              45   for purple background
              46   for cyan background
              47   for white (or gray) background

       Not all commands will work on all systems or display devices.

       ls uses the following defaults:
       NORMAL    0           Normal (nonfilename) text
       FILE      0           Regular file
       DIR       32          Directory
       LINK      36          Symbolic link
       ORPHAN    undefined   Orphaned symbolic link
       MISSING   undefined   Missing file
       FIFO      31          Named pipe (FIFO)
       SOCK      33          Socket
       BLK       44;37       Block device
       CHR       44;37       Character device
       EXEC      35          Executable file

       A few terminal programs do not recognize the default properly.
       If all text gets colorized after you do a directory listing,
       change the NORMAL and FILE codes to the numerical codes for your
       normal foreground and background colors.

   Other terminal types (advanced configuration)
       If you have a color-capable (or otherwise highlighting) terminal
       (or printer!) which uses a different set of codes, you can still
       generate a suitable setup.  To do so, you will have to use the
       LEFTCODE, RIGHTCODE, and ENDCODE definitions.

       When writing out a filename, ls generates the following output
       sequence: LEFTCODE typecode RIGHTCODE filename ENDCODE, where the
       typecode is the color sequence that depends on the type or name
       of file.  If the ENDCODE is undefined, the sequence LEFTCODE
       NORMAL RIGHTCODE will be used instead.  The purpose of the left-
       and rightcodes is merely to reduce the amount of typing necessary
       (and to hide ugly escape codes away from the user).  If they are
       not appropriate for your terminal, you can eliminate them by
       specifying the respective keyword on a line by itself.

       NOTE: If the ENDCODE is defined in the global section of the
       setup file, it cannot be undefined in a terminal-specific section
       of the file.  This means any NORMAL definition will have no
       effect.  A different ENDCODE can, however, be specified, which
       would have the same effect.

   Escape sequences
       To specify control- or blank characters in the color sequences or
       filename extensions, either C-style \-escaped notation or
       stty-style ^-notation can be used.  The C-style notation includes
       the following characters:
              \a      Bell (ASCII 7)
              \b      Backspace (ASCII 8)
              \e      Escape (ASCII 27)
              \f      Form feed (ASCII 12)
              \n      Newline (ASCII 10)
              \r      Carriage Return (ASCII 13)
              \t      Tab (ASCII 9)
              \v      Vertical Tab (ASCII 11)
              \?      Delete (ASCII 127)
              \nnn    Any character (octal notation)
              \xnnn   Any character (hexadecimal notation)
              \_      Space
              \\      Backslash (\)
              \^      Caret (^)
              \#      Hash mark (#)

       Note that escapes are necessary to enter a space, backslash,
       caret, or any control character anywhere in the string, as well
       as a hash mark as the first character.

FILES         top

       /etc/DIR_COLORS
              System-wide configuration file.

       ~/.dir_colors
              Per-user configuration file.

       This page describes the dir_colors file format as used in the
       fileutils-4.1 package; other versions may differ slightly.

NOTES         top

       The default LEFTCODE and RIGHTCODE definitions, which are used by
       ISO/IEC 6429 terminals are:
              LEFTCODE    \e[
              RIGHTCODE   m

       The default ENDCODE is undefined.

SEE ALSO         top

       dircolors(1), ls(1), stty(1), xterm(1)

COLOPHON         top

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Linux man-pages 6.9.1          2024-06-16                  dir_colors(5)