LS(1)                      OpenBSD Reference Manual                      LS(1)

NAME
     ls - list directory contents

SYNOPSIS
     ls [-1AaCcdFfghikLlmnopqRrSsTtux] [file ...]

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 named directory, ls displays the names of files contained within
     that directory, as well as any requested, associated 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.  By default, ls lists one entry per
     line to standard output; the exceptions are to terminals or when the -C,
     -m, or -x options are specified.

     The options are as follows:

     -1      (The numeric digit ``one''.) Force output to be one entry per
             line.  This is the default when output is not to a terminal.

     -A      List all entries except for `.' and `..'.  Always set for the su-
             peruser.

     -a      Include directory entries whose names begin with a dot (`.').

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

     -c      Use time file's status was last changed instead of last modifica-
             tion time for sorting (-t) or printing (-g, -l, or -n).

     -d      Directories are listed as plain files (not searched recursively)
             and symbolic links in the argument list are not indirected
             through.

     -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 equal sign (`=') after
             each socket, and a vertical bar (`|') after each that is a FIFO.

     -f      Output is not sorted.

     -g      List in long format as in -l, except that the owner is not print-
             ed.

     -h      When used with a long format option, use unit suffixes: Byte,
             Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte, Petabyte, and Exabyte in
             order to reduce the number of digits to four or fewer using pow-
             ers of 2 for sizes (K=1024, M=1048576, etc.).

     -i      For each file, print its inode number.

     -k      Modifies the -s option, causing the sizes to be reported in kilo-
             bytes.  Overrides any value specified by the BLOCKSIZE environ-
             ment variable.

     -L      If argument is a symbolic link, evaluate the file information and
             file type to be those of the file referenced by the link, and not
             the link itself; however, ls writes the name of the link itself
             and not the file referenced by the link.

     -l      (The lowercase letter ``ell''.) List in long format (see below).
             A total sum of all file sizes is output on a line before the long
             listing.  Output is one entry per line.

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

     -n      List in long format as in -l, but retain user and group IDs in a
             numeric format.  The output of -gn and -ng is identical: a long
             listing with numerical group ID, and no numerical user ID.  The
             output of -ln and -nl is identical: a long listing with numerical
             group and user ID.

     -o      Include the file flags in a long format (-g, -l, or -n) output.

     -p      Display a slash (`/') immediately after each pathname that is a
             directory.

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

     -R      Recursively list subdirectories encountered.

     -r      Reverse the order of the sort to get reverse lexicographical or-
             der or the smallest or oldest entries first.

     -S      Sort by size, largest file first.

     -s      Display the number of file system blocks actually used by each
             file, where partial units are rounded up to the next integer val-
             ue.  Blocks are 512 bytes unless overridden by the -k flag or
             BLOCKSIZE environment variable.

     -T      Display complete time information for the file, including month,
             day, hour, minute, second, and year.  This option has no effect
             unless one of the long format (-g, -l, or -n) options is also
             specified.

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

     -u      Use file's last access time instead of last modification time for
             sorting (-t) or printing (-g, -l, or -n).

     -x      Multi-column output sorted across the page rather than down the
             page.

     It is not an error to specify more than one of the following mutually ex-
     clusive options: -1, -C, -g, -l, -m, -n, and -x; and -c, -f, -S, -t, and
     -u.  Where more than one option is specified from the same mutually ex-
     clusive group, the last option given overrides the others, except that -l
     always overrides -g; and -f always overrides -c, -S, -t, and -u.

   The Long Format
     If the -g, -l, or -n options are given, the following information is dis-
     played for each file: mode, number of links, owner, group (though not for
     -g), size in bytes, time of last modification (``mmm dd HH:MM''), and the
     pathname.  In addition, for each directory whose contents are displayed,
     the first line displayed is the total number of blocks used by the files
     in the directory.  Blocks are 512 bytes unless overridden by the -k op-
     tion or BLOCKSIZE environment variable.

     If the owner or group name is not a known user or group name, respective-
     ly, or the -n option is given, the numeric ID is 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 -T option is given, the time of last modification is displayed us-
     ing the format ``mmm dd HH:MM:SS CCYY''.

     If the file is a symbolic link, the pathname of the linked-to file is
     preceded by ``->''.

     The file mode printed under the -g, -l, or -n options consists of the en-
     try type, owner permissions, group permissions, and other permissions.
     The entry type character describes the type of file, as follows:

           -     regular file
           b     block special file
           c     character special file
           d     directory
           l     symbolic link
           p     FIFO
           s     socket link

     The next three fields are three characters each: owner permissions, group
     permissions, and other permissions.  Each field has three character posi-
     tions:

           1.   If r, the file is readable; if -, it is not readable.
           2.   If w, the file is writable; if -, it is not writable.
           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, 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 neither ex-
                            ecutable nor searchable (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)).

     In addition, if the -o option is specified, the file flags (see
     chflags(1)) are displayed as comma-separated strings in front of the file
     size, abbreviated as follows:

           -         no flags
           arch      archived
           nodump    do not dump
           sappnd    system append-only
           schg      system immutable
           uappnd    user append-only
           uchg      user immutable

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

ENVIRONMENT
     BLOCKSIZE  If the environment variable BLOCKSIZE is set, and the -k op-
                tion is not specified, the block counts (see -s) will be dis-
                played in units of that size block.

     COLUMNS    If this variable contains a string representing a decimal in-
                teger, it is used as the column position width for displaying
                multiple-text-column output.

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

EXAMPLES
     List the contents of the current working directory in long format:

           $ ls -l

     In addition to listing the contents of the current working directory in
     long format, show inode numbers, file flags (see chflags(1)), and suffix
     each filename with a symbol representing its file type:

           $ ls -lioF

     List the files in /var/log, sorting the output such that the mostly re-
     cently modified entries are printed first:

           $ ls -lt /var/log

SEE ALSO
     chflags(1), chmod(1), symlink(7), sticky(8)

STANDARDS
     The ls utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (``POSIX'')
     specification.

     The flags [-hT] are extensions to that specification.

     Historically, the -g flag was used to specify that the group field be in-
     cluded in long listings.  The group field is now automatically included
     in the long listing for files and the meaning of the -g flag has been
     changed in order to be compatible with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008
     (``POSIX'') specification.

     Behaviour for the -f and -o flags differs between this implementation and
     IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (``POSIX'').

HISTORY
     An ls utility appeared in Version 3 AT&T UNIX.

OpenBSD 4.7                     August 21, 2009                              4
