ls

Overview ¶

Package ls implements the ls builtin command.

ls — list directory contents

Usage: ls [OPTION]... [FILE]...

List information about the FILEs (the current directory by default). Sort entries alphabetically by default.

Accepted flags:

-1
    List one file per line. This is the default when output is not a
    terminal (which is always the case in this shell).

-a, --all
    Do not ignore entries starting with . (includes . and ..).

-A, --almost-all
    Do not ignore entries starting with . but omit . and ..

-d, --directory
    List directories themselves, not their contents.

-r, --reverse
    Reverse order while sorting.

-S
    Sort by file size, largest first.

-t
    Sort by modification time, newest first.

-F, --classify
    Append indicator (one of * / = @ |) to entries.

-p
    Append / indicator to directories.

-R, --recursive
    List subdirectories recursively.

-l
    Use a long listing format: mode, hard links, owner, group, size, date, name.

-h, --human-readable
    With -l, print sizes in human-readable format (e.g. 1K, 234M).

--offset N  (non-standard)
    Skip the first N raw directory entries before collecting results.
    NOTE: offset operates on filesystem order, not sorted order —
    entries are sorted only within each page. For predictable
    pagination of large directories, use consistent offset/limit
    pairs. Applies to single-directory listings only; silently
    ignored with -R or multiple arguments.

--limit N  (non-standard)
    Show at most N entries, capped at MaxDirEntries (1,000) per call.
    Applies to single-directory listings only; silently ignored with -R
    or multiple arguments.

When a directory exceeds MaxDirEntries (1,000) and no explicit --offset/ --limit is given, ls prints the first 1,000 entries, emits a warning to stderr, and exits 1. Use --offset/--limit to paginate through larger directories.

Exit codes:

0  All entries listed successfully.
1  At least one error occurred (missing file, permission denied, etc.).
1  Directory truncated (exceeded MaxDirEntries without --offset/--limit).
1  Invalid usage (unrecognised flag, etc.).