For anyone using the command line, the ls command is one of the most often typed. Here we will outline it's basic usage, options and show some examples including piping to other commands.

Basic Usage

ls by itself, just lists the current working directories contents.

$ ls
 Desktop    Downloads  Pictures  sratch.txt  Videos
 Documents  Music      Public    Templates   vim-install.txt

As you can see, the output is kind of hard to read. That is why most people use the long ( -l ) option. This prints out the same information, but in a long listing. This makes it easier to read and also includes some more information about each file. The additional information include permissions, links, owner, group, size, time, and name.

$ ls -l
 total 40
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Desktop
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Documents
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Downloads
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Music
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Pictures
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Public
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   96 Jan 20 08:26 sratch.txt
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Templates
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Videos
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona 3755 Jan 20 08:24 vim-install.txt

Listing Hidden Files

Using the -a option, we can also see the hidden files (those starting with a period).

$ ls -la
 total 104
 drwx------. 17 savona savona 4096 Jan 20 08:26 .
 drwxr-xr-x.  3 root   root   4096 Jan 13 09:13 ..
 -rw-------.  1 savona savona  277 Jan 16 18:48 .bash_history
 -rw-r--r--.  1 savona savona   18 Oct 30 13:07 .bash_logout
 -rw-r--r--.  1 savona savona  193 Oct 30 13:07 .bash_profile
 -rw-r--r--.  1 savona savona  231 Oct 30 13:07 .bashrc
 drwx------. 16 savona savona 4096 Jan 17 23:21 .cache
 drwxr-xr-x. 15 savona savona 4096 Jan 17 23:21 .config
 drwx------.  3 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 .dbus
 drwxr-xr-x.  2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Desktop
.... OUTPUT TRUNCATED ....

Sorting

Sort By Time

We can also sort the output. Using the time ( -t ) we can sort by time. As you can see from the output below, the files are sorted by date and time with the newest file at the top of the output.

$ ls -lt
 total 40
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   96 Jan 20 08:26 sratch.txt
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona 3755 Jan 20 08:24 vim-install.txt
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Documents
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Music
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Pictures
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Videos
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Desktop
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Downloads
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Public
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Templates

Sort in Reverse Order

I use the sorting option almost everything I use ls. But I usually use it in reverse ( -r ) order. This conveniently puts the newest file at the bottom and makes it easy to find while working in large directories.

$ ls -ltr
 total 40
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Templates
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Public
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Downloads
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Desktop
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Videos
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Pictures
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Music
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Documents
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona 3755 Jan 20 08:24 vim-install.txt
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   96 Jan 20 08:26 sratch.txt

Sort by File Extension

We can also sort by file extension, which comes in handy if your working with a certain type of file in a large directory.

$ ls -Xlr
 total 52
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona 3755 Jan 20 08:24 vim-install.txt
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona  145 Jan 20 08:46 scratch.txt
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   29 Jan 20 08:51 run.sh
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   51 Jan 12 08:54 rsync.sh
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   31 Jan 18 08:49 myscript.sh
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Videos
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Templates
.... OUTPUT TRUNCATED ....

Sort Files by Size

It is possible to sort by size using ( -S ).

$ ls -lS
 total 52
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Desktop
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Documents
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Downloads
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Music
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Pictures
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Public
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Templates
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Videos
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona 3755 Jan 20 08:24 vim-install.txt
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona  145 Jan 20 08:46 scratch.txt
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   51 Jan 12 08:54 rsync.sh
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   31 Jan 18 08:49 myscript.sh
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   29 Jan 20 08:51 run.sh

Human Readable Output with ls Command

Using the -h option will show the file sizes in human readable format (instead of bytes it will show MB, GB, etc)

$ ls -lrth
 total 1.6G
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona  18M Mar 19  2018 TinyCore-current.iso
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona 1.6G Oct 17 18:49 lubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   51 Jan 12 08:54 rsync.sh
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4.0K Jan 13 09:14 Templates
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4.0K Jan 13 09:14 Public

Recursive Listing

You can also recursively list out all directories inside your current working directory. Here I am listing out my home directory recursively, showing all the directories and their contents.

$ ls -lR
 .:
 total 52
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 20 10:48 Desktop
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Documents
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 20 10:48 Downloads
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Music
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   31 Jan 18 08:49 myscript.sh
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Pictures
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Public
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   51 Jan 12 08:54 rsync.sh
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   29 Jan 20 08:51 run.sh
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona  145 Jan 20 08:46 scratch.txt
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Templates
 drwxr-xr-x. 2 savona savona 4096 Jan 13 09:14 Videos
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona 3755 Jan 20 08:24 vim-install.txt
 ./Desktop:
 total 16
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona 8978 Jan 20 10:48 Devices.txt
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona    9 Jan 20 10:44 Somefile.txt
 ./Documents:
 total 0
 ./Downloads:
 total 1673220
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona 1694498816 Oct 17 18:49 lubuntu-18.10-desktop-amd64.iso
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   18874368 Mar 19  2018 TinyCore-current.iso
 ./Music:
 total 0
 ./Pictures:
 total 0
 ./Public:
 total 0
 ./Templates:
 total 0
 ./Videos:
 total 0

Listing SELinux Context

This is an important one that is often overlooked. You can use the -Z option to list all the files along with their respective SELinux context.

$ ls -Z
 drwxr-xr-x. savona savona unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 Desktop
 drwxr-xr-x. savona savona unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 Documents
 drwxr-xr-x. savona savona unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 Downloads
 drwxr-xr-x. savona savona unconfined_u:object_r:audio_home_t:s0 Music
 -rw-rw-r--. savona savona unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 myscript.sh
 drwxr-xr-x. savona savona unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 Pictures
 drwxr-xr-x. savona savona unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 Public
 -rw-rw-r--. savona savona unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 rsync.sh
 -rw-rw-r--. savona savona unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 run.sh
 -rw-rw-r--. savona savona unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 scratch.txt
 drwxr-xr-x. savona savona unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 Templates
 drwxr-xr-x. savona savona unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 Videos
 -rw-rw-r--. savona savona unconfined_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 vim-install.txt

Piping Output to other Commands

You can pipe the output of ls into other commands for further processing, here are a couple examples.

Here we will use grep to find what we are looking for.

$ ls -lrt | grep scratch
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona  145 Jan 20 08:46 scratch.txt

Here we will sort files by size, but exclude directories using grep. 

$ ls -lSh | grep -v '^d'
 total 52K
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona 3.7K Jan 20 08:24 vim-install.txt
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona  145 Jan 20 08:46 scratch.txt
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   51 Jan 12 08:54 rsync.sh
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   31 Jan 18 08:49 myscript.sh
 -rw-rw-r--. 1 savona savona   29 Jan 20 08:51 run.sh

Here we will pipe the above output to awk to get a list of JUST filenames. This is useful if you are iterating though the list.

$ ls -lSh | grep -v '^d' | awk '{print $9}'
 vim-install.txt
 scratch.txt
 rsync.sh
 myscript.sh
 run.sh

That is it folks, the basics of the ls command. Sound off in the comments if I missed anything.

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