![\"syntax](\"https:\/\/data-flair.training\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/syntax-of-the-ls-command.webp\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIn the above output, the ls command listed all the content in my present working directory (\/home\/gopikiran)<\/p>\n
I can also list the files of any other directory by simply going into the desired directory using the cs command and then using the ls command.<\/p>\n
If observe the outputs closely, you will find that the sub-directories are blue text, whereas the files are in plain white text.<\/p>\n If at all you want more specific and desired outputs, we follow the below given general syntax:<\/p>\n In the syntax of the ls command, there is a field where ls can take on options or flags which are used to give additional information to the ls command so it changes how files and directories are listed in your terminal.<\/p>\n In other words, the options alternate how the ls command works. Let us look at the available command that we use with the ls command.<\/p>\n This option enlists the entire list of the current directory including the hidden files.<\/p>\n This option lists the contents of the home directory, irrespective of your present working directory.<\/p>\n This option will show you the file sizes in a human-readable format. By default the ls command will show the size of files in bytes, which is very hard to understand, Hence we use the option \u201c-h\u201d to print the sizes in Megabytes.<\/p>\n This option displays the file in descending order of their size.<\/p>\n This option displays the files in a specific size format.<\/p>\n This option displays only the subdirectories and not the regular files.<\/p>\n This option prints out the directories and files separated by a comma.<\/p>\n This option prints the group ID and owner ID instead of their names.<\/p>\n This option prints the list as colored or discolored<\/p>\n This option identifies the directories easily by marking the directories with a slash sign.<\/p>\n This option prints the index number if the file system is the file is displayed in the first column.<\/p>\n This option prints the list in reverse order.<\/p>\n This option displays the content of the sub-directories also.<\/p>\n This option groups the files with the same extensions together in the list.<\/p>\n This option adds quotation marks to all directories and files.<\/p>\n This option shows the list in a long list format<\/p>\n Before preceding to other options, let us look at what each field means in the above output:<\/p>\n Column-1: This field consists of the permission of the files and directories.<\/p>\n Column -2: This field shows the number of links for that file or directory.<\/p>\n Column -3: This field shows the owner of the file or directory.<\/p>\n Column -4: This field shows the group of the file or directory.<\/p>\n Column -5: This field shows the size of the file or directory in bytes.<\/p>\n Column -6: This field shows the last modified date and time of the file.<\/p>\n Column -7: This field shows the name of the file or directory.<\/p>\n This option lists the contents of the parent directory<\/p>\n In the above output, even though I moved to the directory \u201cDataFlair\u201d, using the command \u201cls ..\/\u201d printed the content of the \u201cDesktop\u201d directory, which is the parent directory of the \u201cDataFlair\u201d directory.<\/p>\n This option prints information about the version of ls you are using.<\/p>\n This option prints out all of the commands and information regarding them<\/p>\n This option displays the files excluding the column of information regarding the group and user.<\/p>\n This option sorts the list by displaying the recently modified field at the top.<\/p>\n This option lists the files in the root directory<\/p>\n This option lists the contents of the directory along with its subdirectories. It is exactly the same as the option \u201c-R\u201d<\/p>\n This option lists the content of the directory you specify in long format.<\/p>\n This option sorts the list by displaying the recently modified field at the bottom.<\/p>\n This option hides control characters.<\/p>\n This option displays the UID and GIDs of a file or directory. This option prints very similar to the option \u2018-l\u2019 but shows the UID and GID in numeric format instead of names.<\/p>\n This option classifies the files with special characters that have different meanings, let us look at what each character means:<\/p>\n 1. \/ – directory<\/p>\n 2. @ – link file<\/p>\n 3. * – executable file<\/p>\n 4. Nothing – regular file<\/p>\n You can open the last edited file using the command \u201cls -t\u201d. The option \u201c-t\u201d sorts out the file and you can pipe it with the \u201chead 1\u201d command to select the first file.<\/p>\n We can display only file per line using the command \u201cls -1\u201d<\/p>\n We can create an alias command for the ls command such that we can include the desired function. Say I want the command \u201cls -l\u201d to be created as an alias, then I use the following command:<\/p>\n If you want to see the aliases in your computer, simply type \u201calias\u201d in the terminal.<\/p>\n If you want to remove a previously defined alias, you can do so by using the following command:<\/p>\n To access the files under the \/tmp directory use the command \u201cls -l \/tmp\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nls <options> <directory><\/pre>\n
Options used with the ls command<\/h3>\n
1. -a<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n2. ~<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n3. -lh<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n4. -lhS<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n5. -l – -block- size=<size><\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n6. -d*\/<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n7. -m<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n8. -n<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n9. –color <value><\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n10. -p<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n11. -li<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n12. -r<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n13. -R<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n14. -lX<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n15. -Q<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n16. -l<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n17. ..\/<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n18. –version<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n19. –help<\/h4>\n
20. -g<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n21. -lt<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n22. \/<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n23. *<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n24. -l <d><\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n25. -ltr<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n26. -q<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n27. -n ~\/kv<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n28. -F<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nLS Additional commands<\/h3>\n
1. Opening the last edited file<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n2. Displaying only 1 file per line<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n3. Creating an alias for the ls command<\/h4>\n
alias ls=\"ls -l\"<\/pre>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nunalias ls<\/pre>\n
4. Displaying files under the \/tmp directory<\/h4>\n