LS(C) XENIX System V LS(C)
Name
ls - Gives information about contents of directories.
Syntax
ls [ -ACFRabcdfgilmnopqrstux ] [ names ]
Description
For each directory named, ls lists the contents of that
directory; for each file named, ls repeats its name and any
other information requested. By default, the output is
sorted alphabetically. When no argument is given, the
current directory is listed. When several arguments are
given, the arguments are first sorted appropriately, but
file arguments are processed before directories and their
contents.
There are three major listing formats. The default format
is to list one entry per line, the -C and -x options enable
multi-column formats, and the -m option enables stream
output format in which files are listed across the page,
separated by commas. In order to determine output format
for the -C, -x, and -m options, ls uses an environment
variable, COLUMNS, to determine the number of character
positions available on one output line. If this variable is
not set, the termcap database is used to determine the
number of columns, based on the environment variable TERM.
If this information cannot be obtained, 80 columns are
assumed.
There are many options:
-A List all entries; entries whose name begin with a
period (.) are listed. Does not list current directory
(.) and directory above (..).
-a Lists all entries; entries whose name begin with a
period (.) are listed.
-R Recursively lists subdirectories encountered.
-d If an argument is a directory, lists only its name (not
its contents); often used with -l to get the status of
a directory.
-C Multi-column output with entries sorted down the
columns.
-x Multi-column output with entries sorted across rather
than down the page.
-m Stream output format.
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LS(C) XENIX System V LS(C)
-l Lists in long format, giving mode, number of links,
owner, group, size in bytes, and time of last
modification for each file (see below). If the file is
a special file, the size field will contain the major
and minor device numbers, rather than a size.
-n The same as -l, except that the owner's UID and group's
GID numbers are printed, rather than the associated
character strings.
-o The same as -l, except that the group is not printed.
-g The same as -l, except that the owner is not printed.
-r Reverses the order of sort to get reverse alphabetic or
oldest first, as appropriate.
-t Sorts by time modified (latest first) instead of by
name.
-u Uses time of last access instead of last modification
for sorting use with the -t option.
-c Uses time of last modification of the inode (file
created, mode changed, etc.) for sorting use with -t
option.
-p Puts a slash (/) after each filename if that file is a
directory.
-F Puts a slash (/) after each filename if that file is a
directory and puts an asterisk (*) after each filename
if that file is executable.
-b Forces printing of non-graphic characters to be in the
octal \ddd notation.
-q Forces printing of non-graphic characters in file names
as the character (?).
-i For each file, prints the inode number in the first
column of the report.
-s Gives size in blocks, including indirect blocks, for
each entry.
-f Forces each argument to be interpreted as a directory
and lists the name found in each slot. This option
turns off -l, -t, -s, and -r, and turns on -a; the
order is the order in which entries appear in the
directory.
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LS(C) XENIX System V LS(C)
The mode printed under the -l option consists of 11
characters. The first character is:
- If the entry is an ordinary file.
d If the entry is a directory.
b If the entry is a block special file.
c If the entry is a character special file.
p If the entry is a named pipe.
s If the entry is a semaphore.
m If the entry is a shared data (memory) file.
The next 9 characters are interpreted as 3 sets of 3 bits
each. The first set refers to the owner's permissions; the
next to permissions of others in the user-group of the file;
and the last to all others. Within each set, the 3
characters indicate permission to read, to write, and to
execute the file as a program, respectively. For a
directory, ``execute'' permission is interpreted to mean
permission to search the directory for a specified file.
The permissions are indicated as follows:
r If the file is readable.
w If the file is writable.
x If the file is executable.
- If the indicated permission is not granted.
The group-execute permission character is given as s if the
file has set-group-ID mode; likewise, the user-execute
permission character is given as s if the file has set-
user-ID mode. The last character of the mode (normally x or
-) is t if the 1000 (octal) bit of the mode is on; see
chmod(C) for the meaning of this mode. The indications of
set-ID and 1000 bit of the mode are capitalized if the
corresponding execute permission is not set.
When the sizes of the files in a directory are listed, a
total count of blocks including indirect blocks is printed.
Files
/etc/passwd
Gets user IDs for ls -l and ls -o
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LS(C) XENIX System V LS(C)
/etc/group
Gets group IDs for ls -l and ls -g
/etc/termcap/*
Gets terminal information
See Also
chmod(C), find(C), l(C), lc(C), termcap(C)
Notes
Newline and tab are considered printing characters in
filenames.
Unprintable characters in filenames may confuse the columnar
output options.
This utility reports sizes in 512 byte blocks. Systems
which define a block as 1024 characters, the size of files
containing 511 or fewer bytes to 1 block. ls -s interprets
1 block from a 1024 byte block system as 2 of its own 512
byte blocks. Thus a 500 byte file is interpreted as 2
blocks rather than 1. Refer to the machine(M) manual page
for the block size used by your system.
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