Listing directory contents Oracle Tips by Burleson Consulting

Listing directory contents

The ls command is used to list the contents (sub-directories and files) of a directory. There are several options to the ls command that determine both the content and order of the listing displayed.

Without specifying any options, ls displays sub-directory and file names. The following is a description of some of the options that are commonly used to display additional information:

Option Purpose

• a
  Display all … normally hidden files, those prefixed with a period (.), are not displayed.
  
• l
  Display long … include permissions, ownership, size, date/time, and file name in the display
  
• t
  Sort the display by date/time

Here are some examples of ls command displays using the above options:

Directory:~/examples
$ ls
declaration.txt gettysburg.txt preamble.txt

Directory:~/examples
$ ls -al
total 20
drwxrwxr-x 2 tclark tclark 4096 Jan 13 17:48 .
drwx------ 4 tclark tclark 4096 Jan 13 18:29 ..
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tclark tclark 2230 Jan 13 17:47
declaration.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tclark tclark 1310 Jan 13 17:48
gettysburg.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tclark tclark 360 Jan 13 17:48
preamble.txt

Directory:~/examples
$ ls -alt
total 20
drwx------ 4 tclark tclark 4096 Jan 13 18:29 ..
drwxrwxr-x 2 tclark tclark 4096 Jan 13 17:48 .
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tclark tclark 360 Jan 13 17:48
preamble.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tclark tclark 1310 Jan 13 17:48
gettysburg.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tclark tclark 2230 Jan 13 17:47
declaration.txt

Directory:~/examples
$

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The above book excerpt is from:

Easy Linux Commands
Working Examples of Linux Command Syntax

ISBN: 0-9759135-0-6   

Terry Clark