# ls — List Directory Contents > List directory contents with ls — permissions, owner, size and modification time, plus sorting, filtering and useful flag combinations. Source: https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/cheatsheets/files-text/ls/ `ls` lists the contents of directories, which makes it one of the commands you type most often in the terminal. Without options it shows only names, but the flags are what make it genuinely useful: `-l` gives the long format with permissions, owner, size and modification date, `-a` reveals hidden files, `-h` makes sizes readable, and `-t` or `-S` sort by time or size respectively. The options shown here refer to GNU `ls` from coreutils, the default on Linux – BSD/macOS `ls` lacks some flags or assigns them differently. In practice you simply combine the letters, e.g. `ls -lahS`, and pipe onward to `head`, `wc` or `grep`. ## Basic Usage `ls` — List files and directories in the current directory. ```bash ls ``` `ls ` — List contents of a specific directory. ```bash ls /var/log ``` `ls ` — List specific files or multiple paths. ```bash ls index.html style.css ``` `ls -l` — Long format. Show permissions, owner, size, and modification date. ```bash ls -l ``` `ls -la` — Long format including hidden files (dotfiles). ```bash ls -la ~/ ``` `ls -lh` — Long format with human-readable file sizes (K, M, G). ```bash ls -lh /var/log/ ``` ## Showing Hidden Files `ls -a` — Show all files including hidden (dotfiles), . and .. ```bash ls -a ``` `ls -A` — Show hidden files but exclude . and .. entries. ```bash ls -A ``` `ls -d .*` — List only hidden files and directories. ```bash ls -d .* ``` ## Sorting `ls -t` — Sort by modification time, newest first. ```bash ls -lt ``` `ls -tr` — Sort by modification time, oldest first (reversed). ```bash ls -ltr ``` `ls -S` — Sort by file size, largest first. ```bash ls -lSh ``` `ls -Sr` — Sort by file size, smallest first. ```bash ls -lSrh ``` `ls -X` — Sort alphabetically by file extension. ```bash ls -lX ``` `ls -v` — Natural sort of version numbers within filenames. ```bash ls -v ``` `ls -U` — Do not sort. List entries in directory order. ```bash ls -U ``` `ls -r` — Reverse the sort order. ```bash ls -lr ``` ## Display Formats `ls -1` — List one file per line. ```bash ls -1 ``` `ls -m` — List files as comma-separated values. ```bash ls -m ``` `ls -C` — List in columns (default when output is a terminal). ```bash ls -C ``` `ls -x` — List entries by lines instead of columns. ```bash ls -x ``` `ls -Q` — Enclose filenames in double quotes. ```bash ls -Q ``` `ls --color=auto` — Colorize output. Directories, executables, links get distinct colors. ```bash ls --color=auto ``` ## File Information `ls -i` — Show inode number of each file. ```bash ls -li ``` `ls -n` — Long format with numeric UID and GID instead of names. ```bash ls -ln ``` `ls -o` — Long format without group information. ```bash ls -o ``` `ls -g` — Long format without owner information. ```bash ls -g ``` `ls --full-time` — Long format with full date and time including nanoseconds. ```bash ls --full-time ``` `ls -s` — Show allocated block size for each file. ```bash ls -ls ``` ## Directories & Recursion `ls -d ` — List directory entry itself, not its contents. ```bash ls -ld /var ``` `ls -d */` — List only directories in the current directory. ```bash ls -d */ ``` `ls -R` — List contents recursively through all subdirectories. ```bash ls -R /etc/nginx ``` `ls -R | grep ':$'` — List only subdirectory names from recursive output. ```bash ls -R /var | grep ':$' ``` ## Symbolic Links `ls -l ` — Show where a symbolic link points to. ```bash ls -l /usr/bin/python3 ``` `ls -L` — Show information about the target of a symlink, not the link itself. ```bash ls -lL /usr/bin/python3 ``` `ls -F` — Append indicator to entries: / directory, @ symlink, * executable. ```bash ls -F ``` `ls -p` — Append / indicator to directories only. ```bash ls -p ``` ## Filtering with Globs `ls *.txt` — List all files with .txt extension. ```bash ls *.txt ``` `ls *.{jpg,png,gif}` — List files matching multiple extensions using brace expansion. ```bash ls -lh *.{jpg,png,gif} ``` `ls [A-Z]*` — List files starting with an uppercase letter. ```bash ls [A-Z]* ``` `ls -I ''` — Exclude files matching a pattern from the listing. ```bash ls -I '*.bak' -I '*.tmp' ``` `ls --hide=''` — Hide files matching pattern (overridden by -a). ```bash ls --hide='*.pyc' ``` ## Common Combinations `ls -lahS` — All files, long format, human-readable, sorted by size. ```bash ls -lahS ``` `ls -latr` — All files, long format, sorted by time (oldest first). ```bash ls -latr ``` `ls -lhS | head -n 10` — Show the 10 largest files in a directory. ```bash ls -lhS | head -n 10 ``` `ls -lt | head -n 5` — Show the 5 most recently modified files. ```bash ls -lt | head -n 5 ``` `ls -1 | wc -l` — Count the number of files in a directory. ```bash ls -1 | wc -l ``` `ls -1 | sort -f` — List files sorted case-insensitively. ```bash ls -1 | sort -f ``` `ls -d .* 2>/dev/null` — List dotfiles only, suppressing errors if none exist. ```bash ls -ld .* 2>/dev/null ``` `ls -lR | grep '^-' | wc -l` — Count all files recursively (excluding directories). ```bash ls -lR | grep '^-' | wc -l ``` ## Conclusion `ls` is deceptively simple: its real value comes from combining options. For everyday work, `ls -lah` (everything, readable, with detail), `ls -ltr` (time-sorted, newest at the bottom) and a pipe to `head`, `wc -l` or `grep` cover most needs. Keep in mind that the flags shown assume GNU coreutils – on macOS or BSD, `--full-time`, `-X` or `--hide` behave differently or are missing entirely; there, `gls` from coreutils often helps. `ls` shows ownership and permissions only at a glance – for the full metadata reach for `stat`, for the real file type reach for `file`, and to search across whole trees reach for `find`. ## Further Reading - [GNU Coreutils: ls invocation](https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/html_node/ls-invocation.html) – official reference for every option of GNU ls - [Wikipedia: ls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ls) – background on the Unix command and its history ## Related Commands - [stat](https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/cheatsheets/files-text/stat/) – full file metadata beyond ls -l - [file](https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/cheatsheets/files-text/file/) – determine the real file type by content - [find](https://www.jpkc.com/db/en/cheatsheets/files-text/find/) – search and filter files recursively