ls command

• In this linux commands tutorial, you will learn 12 practical tips of ls command in linux / unix with examples
• ls command is mainly used to display / list files and folders in current directory or user specified directory.

Important Command options

S.N	Options	Descriptions
1.	ls -a	Displays all hidden files
2.	ls -s	Displays size with files
3.	ls -l	Displays files and directories in long format
4.	ls -d	Displays only directories instead of files
5.	ls .	Displays files in the current directory.
6.	ls ..	Displays files in the parent directory.
7.	ls /	Displays files in the root directory.
8.	ls ~	Displays files in the user home’s directory.

Symbols Meaning

• Single dot operator . → Current directory (.)
• Double dot operators .. → Parent directory (..)
• / → Root Directory (/)
• ~ → User Home’s Directory (~)

Tools used

1. Terminal – Repl.it (Online Linux Terminal) https://repl.it/
2. OS – Windows 10

1. Displaying files and folders in current directory

• The dot operator . indicates the current directory
• Use the following syntax to show the files in current directory

Example

  ls (or) ls .

Result

2. Displaying files and folders in parent directory

• The double dot operator .. indicates the parent directory
• Use the following syntax to show the files in parent directory

Example

  ls ..

Result

3. Displaying files and folders in home directory

• The operator ~ indicates the home directory
• Use the following syntax to show the files in home directory

Example

  ls ~

Result

4. Displaying hidden files

• By default, the ls command shows all files and folders except hidden files
• To show the hidden files, use the option -a
• Use the following syntax to show all files with hidden files

Example

  ls -a

Result

5. Displaying only subdirectories

• To show only subdirectories excluding all files, use the option -d
• Use the following syntax to show only directories in the root.

Example

  ls -d /*     ( /* → show all directories in root or / )

Result

6. Displaying size(s) of files

• By default, the ls command shows all files and folders except file size
• To show the size of files, use the special option -s
• Use the following syntax to show size of all files of current directory

Example

  ls -s     // show size of all files (all files)

  ls -s c5.txt     // show size of c5.txt only (single file)

Result – Listing size of all files in the current directory

Result – Displaying the size of specified text file

7. Displaying inode number

• To show the inode number (file serial number) of files, use the option -i
• Use the following syntax to show the inode number of files

Example

  ls -i

Result

8. Displaying files in long list format

• It summarizes the file the most important information about the file on a single line
• To show the files in long listing format, use the special option -l
• Use the following syntax to show files in long listing format.

Example

  ls -l

• It shows seven columns
• Where
  • 1st column shows the file type and file permissions
  • 2nd column shows the integer number of links to the file
  • 3rd column shows the owner name
  • 4th column shows the group name
  • 5th column shows the file size in bytes
  • 6th column shows the file modification date and time
  • 7th column shows the filename / directory name itself.

Result

9. Displaying files and directories in reverse order

• To show files and directories in reverse order, use the special option -r
• Use the following syntax to show files in reverse order.

Example

  ls -r 

Result

10. Displaying output per line

• The option -1, forces output to be one entry per line
• Use the following syntax to force the output to be one entry per line.

Example

  ls -1 

Result

11. Displaying files in sorted order

• This option is used to display the files in sorted order based on the file size (it will display big in size first).
• To show the sorted order of files, use the option -S
• Use the following syntax to show the files in order based on the file size.

Example

ls -lS    (S is the uppercase)

Result – Listing Files and folders in sorted order only based on the big size 

12. List files and output to a file 

• If you want to store the result of ls command into a text file, then it is possible to store the output to a file.
• This is done by using output redirection operator > in linux
• Use the following syntax to redirect / store the output of ls command to a text file called “res.txt”. After that, use cat command to show the content of the resultant file cat res.txt.

Example

Result

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