DESCRIPTION

     For each operand that names a file of a type other than directory, ls
     displays its name as well as any requested, associated information.  For
     each operand that names a file of type directory, ls displays the names
     of files contained within that directory, as well as any requested, asso-
     ciated information.

     If no operands are given, the contents of the current directory are dis-
     played.  If more than one operand is given, non-directory operands are
     displayed first; directory and non-directory operands are sorted sepa-
     rately and in lexicographical order.

     The following options are available:

     -A      Include directory entries whose names begin with a dot (`.')
             except for . and ...  Automatically set for the super-user unless
             -I is specified.

     -B      Force printing of non-printable characters (as defined by
             ctype(3) and current locale settings) in file names as \xxx,
             where xxx is the numeric value of the character in octal.

     -C      Force multi-column output; this is the default when output is to
             a terminal.

     -F      Display a slash (`/') immediately after each pathname that is a
             directory, an asterisk (`*') after each that is executable, an at
             sign (`@') after each symbolic link, an equals sign (`=') after
             each socket, a percent sign (`%') after each whiteout, and a ver-
             tical bar (`|') after each that is a FIFO.

     -G      Enable colorized output.  This option is equivalent to defining
             CLICOLOR in the environment.  (See below.)

     -H      Symbolic links on the command line are followed.  This option is
             assumed if none of the -F, -d, or -l options are specified.

     -I      Prevent -A from being automatically set for the super-user.

     -L      If argument is a symbolic link, list the file or directory the
             link references rather than the link itself.  This option cancels
             the -P option.

     -P      If argument is a symbolic link, list the link itself rather than
             the object the link references.  This option cancels the -H and
             -L options.

     -R      Recursively list subdirectories encountered.

     -S      Sort by size (largest file first) before sorting the operands in
             lexicographical order.

     -c      Use time when file status was last changed for sorting or print-
             ing.

     -d      Directories are listed as plain files (not searched recursively).

     -f      Output is not sorted.

     -g      This option is deprecated and is only available for compatibility
             with 4.3BSD; it was used to display the group name in the long
             (-l) format output.

     -h      When used with the -l option, use unit suffixes: Byte, Kilobyte,
             Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte and Petabyte in order to reduce the
             number of digits to four or fewer using base 2 for sizes.

     -i      For each file, print the file's file serial number (inode num-
             ber).

     -k      This has the same effect as setting environment variable
             BLOCKSIZE to 1024, except that it also nullifies any -h options
             to its left.

     -l      (The lowercase letter ``ell''.)  List files in the long format,
             as described in the The Long Format subsection below.

     -m      Stream output format; list files across the page, separated by
             commas.

     -n      Display user and group IDs numerically rather than converting to
             a user or group name in a long (-l) output.

     -o      Include the file flags in a long (-l) output.

     -p      Write a slash (`/') after each filename if that file is a direc-
             tory.

     -q      Force printing of non-graphic characters in file names as the
             character `?'; this is the default when output is to a terminal.

     -r      Reverse the order of the sort.

     -s      Display the number of blocks used in the file system by each
             file.  Block sizes and directory totals are handled as described
             in The Long Format subsection below, except (if the long format
             is not also requested) the directory totals are not output when
             the output is in a single column, even if multi-column output is
             requested.

     -t      Sort by time modified (most recently modified first) before sort-
             ing the operands in lexicographical order.


     The -c, -u, and -U options all override each other; the last one speci-
     fied determines the file time used.

     The -B, -b, -w, and -q options all override each other; the last one
     specified determines the format used for non-printable characters.

     The -H, -L and -P options all override each other (either partially or
     fully); they are applied in the order specified.

     By default, ls lists one entry per line to standard output; the excep-
     tions are to terminals or when the -C or -x options are specified.

     File information is displayed with one or more <blank>s separating the
     information associated with the -i, -s, and -l options.

   The Long Format
     If the -l option is given, the following information is displayed for
     each file: file mode, number of links, owner name, group name, MAC label,
     number of bytes in the file, abbreviated month, day-of-month file was
     last modified, hour file last modified, minute file last modified, and
     the pathname.

     If the modification time of the file is more than 6 months in the past or
     future, then the year of the last modification is displayed in place of
     the hour and minute fields.

     If the owner or group names are not a known user or group name, or the -n
     option is given, the numeric ID's are displayed.

     If the file is a character special or block special file, the major and
     minor device numbers for the file are displayed in the size field.  If
     the file is a symbolic link the pathname of the linked-to file is pre-
     ceded by ``->''.

     The listing of a directory's contents is preceded by a labeled total num-
     ber of blocks used in the file system by the files which are listed as
     the directory's contents (which may or may not include . and .. and other
     files which start with a dot, depending on other options).

     The default block size is 512 bytes.  The block size may be set with
     option -k or environment variable BLOCKSIZE.  Numbers of blocks in the
     output will have been rounded up so the numbers of bytes is at least as
     many as used by the corresponding file system blocks (which might have a
     different size).

     The file mode printed under the -l option consists of the entry type and
     the permissions.  The entry type character describes the type of file, as
     follows:

           -     Regular file.
           b     Block special file.

           3.   The first of the following that applies:

                      S     If in the owner permissions, the file is not exe-
                            cutable and set-user-ID mode is set.  If in the
                            group permissions, the file is not executable and
                            set-group-ID mode is set.

                      s     If in the owner permissions, the file is exe-
                            cutable and set-user-ID mode is set.  If in the
                            group permissions, the file is executable and set-
                            group-ID mode is set.

                      x     The file is executable or the directory is search-
                            able.

                      -     The file is neither readable, writable, exe-
                            cutable, nor set-user-ID nor set-group-ID mode,
                            nor sticky.  (See below.)

                These next two apply only to the third character in the last
                group (other permissions).

                      T     The sticky bit is set (mode 1000), but not execute
                            or search permission.  (See chmod(1) or
                            sticky(8).)

                      t     The sticky bit is set (mode 1000), and is search-
                            able or executable.  (See chmod(1) or sticky(8).)

     The next field contains a plus (`+') character if the file has an ACL, or
     a space (` ') if it does not.  The ls utility does not show the actual
     ACL; use getfacl(1) to do this.

ENVIRONMENT

     The following environment variables affect the execution of ls:

     BLOCKSIZE       If this is set, its value, rounded up to 512 or down to a
                     multiple of 512, will be used as the block size in bytes
                     by the -l and -s options.  See The Long Format subsection
                     for more information.

     CLICOLOR        Use ANSI color sequences to distinguish file types.  See
                     LSCOLORS below.  In addition to the file types mentioned
                     in the -F option some extra attributes (setuid bit set,
                     etc.) are also displayed.  The colorization is dependent
                     on a terminal type with the proper termcap(5) capabili-
                     ties.  The default ``cons25'' console has the proper
                     capabilities, but to display the colors in an xterm(1),
                     for example, the TERM variable must be set to
                     ``xterm-color''.  Other terminal types may require simi-
                     lar adjustments.  Colorization is silently disabled if

     LANG            The locale to use when determining the order of day and
                     month in the long -l format output.  See environ(7) for
                     more information.

     LSCOLORS        The value of this variable describes what color to use
                     for which attribute when colors are enabled with
                     CLICOLOR.  This string is a concatenation of pairs of the
                     format fb, where f is the foreground color and b is the
                     background color.

                     The color designators are as follows:

                           a     black
                           b     red
                           c     green
                           d     brown
                           e     blue
                           f     magenta
                           g     cyan
                           h     light grey
                           A     bold black, usually shows up as dark grey
                           B     bold red
                           C     bold green
                           D     bold brown, usually shows up as yellow
                           E     bold blue
                           F     bold magenta
                           G     bold cyan
                           H     bold light grey; looks like bright white
                           x     default foreground or background

                     Note that the above are standard ANSI colors.  The actual
                     display may differ depending on the color capabilities of
                     the terminal in use.

                     The order of the attributes are as follows:

                           1.   directory
                           2.   symbolic link
                           3.   socket
                           4.   pipe
                           5.   executable
                           6.   block special
                           7.   character special
                           8.   executable with setuid bit set
                           9.   executable with setgid bit set
                           10.  directory writable to others, with sticky bit
                           11.  directory writable to others, without sticky
                                bit

                     The default is "exfxcxdxbxegedabagacad", i.e., blue fore-
                     ground and default background for regular directories,

     TZ              The timezone to use when displaying dates.  See
                     environ(7) for more information.

EXIT STATUS

     The ls utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

COMPATIBILITY

     The group field is now automatically included in the long listing for
     files in order to be compatible with the IEEE Std 1003.2 (``POSIX.2'')
     specification.

SEE ALSO

     chflags(1), chmod(1), getfacl(1), sort(1), xterm(1), termcap(5),
     maclabel(7), symlink(7), getfmac(8), sticky(8)

STANDARDS

     With the exception of options -I, -g, -n and -o, the ls utility conforms
     to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (``POSIX.1'').

     The ACL support is compatible with IEEE Std 1003.2c (``POSIX.2c'')
     Draft 17 (withdrawn).

HISTORY

     An ls command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.

BUGS

     To maintain backward compatibility, the relationships between the many
     options are quite complex.

     The exception mentioned in the -s option description might be a feature
     that was based on the fact that single-column output usually goes to
     something other than a terminal.  It is debatable whether this is a
     design bug.

BSD                            October 12, 2006                            BSD