LS(1) User Commands LS(1)

ls - list contents of directory 

/usr/bin/ls [-aAbcCdeEfFghHiklLmnopqrRsStuUwvVx1@]
     [ -/ c | v] [-% atime | crtime | ctime | mtime | all]
     [--block-size size] [--color[= when]] [--file-type]
     [--si] [--time-style  style] [file]...

/usr/xpg4/bin/ls [-aAbcCdeEfFghHiklLmnopqrRsStuUwvVx1@]
     [ -/ c | v] [-% atime | crtime | ctime | mtime | all]
     [--block-size size] [--color[= when]] [--file-type]
     [--si] [--time-style  style] [file]...

/usr/xpg6/bin/ls [-aAbcCdeEfFghHiklLmnopqrRsStuUwvVx1@]
     [ -/ c | v] [-% atime | crtime | ctime | mtime | all]
     [--block-size size] [--color[= when]] [--file-type]
     [--si] [--time-style  style] [file]...

For each file that is a directory, ls lists the contents of the directory. For each file that is an ordinary file, ls repeats its name and any other information requested. The output is sorted alphabetically by default. When no argument is given, the current directory ( .) is listed. When several arguments are given, the arguments are first sorted appropriately, but file arguments appear before directories and their contents.
There are three major listing formats. The default format for output directed to a terminal is multi−column with entries sorted down the columns. The -1 option allows single column output and -m enables stream output format. In order to determine output formats for the -C, -x, and -m options, ls uses an environment variable, COLUMNS, to determine the number of character positions available on one output line. If this variable is not set, the terminfo(4) database is used to determine the number of columns, based on the environment variable, TERM. If this information cannot be obtained, 80 columns are assumed. If the -w option is used, the argument overrides any other column width.
The mode printed when the -e, -E, -g, -l, -n, -o, -v, -V, or -@ option is in effect consists of eleven characters. The first character can be one of the following:
d
The entry is a directory.
D
The entry is a door.
l
The entry is a symbolic link.
b
The entry is a block special file.
c
The entry is a character special file.
p
The entry is a FIFO (or "named pipe") special file.
P
The entry is an event port.
s
The entry is an AF_UNIX address family socket.
−
The entry is an ordinary file.
The next 9 characters are interpreted as three sets of three bits each. The first set refers to the owner's permissions; the next to permissions of others in the user-group of the file; and the last to all others. Within each set, the three characters indicate permission to read, to write, and to execute the file as a program, respectively. For a directory, execute permission is interpreted to mean permission to search the directory for a specified file. The character after permissions is an ACL or extended attributes indicator. This character is an @ if extended attributes are associated with the file and the -@ option is in effect. Otherwise, this character is a plus sign ( +) character if a non-trivial ACL is associated with the file or a space character if not.
If -/ and/or -% are in effect, then the extended system attributes are printed when filesystem supports extended system attributes. The display looks as follows: 

$ls -/ c  file
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           0 May 10 14:17 file
                {AHRSadim-u--}


$ls -/ v file
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           0 May 10 14:17 file
                {archive,hidden,readonly,system,\
                 appendonly,nodump,immutable,av_modified,\
                 noav_quarantined,nounlink,nooffline,\
                 nosparse}


$ls -l -% all file
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           0 May 10 14:17 file
                timestamp: atime    Jun 25 12:56:44 2007
                timestamp: ctime    May 10 14:20:23 2007
                timestamp: mtime    May 10 14:17:56 2007
                timestamp: crtime   May 10 14:17:56 2007

See the option descriptions of the -/ and -% option for details.
ls -l (the long list) prints its output as follows for the POSIX locale: 

-rwxrwxrwx+ 1 smith dev   10876  May 16 9:42 part2

Reading from right to left, you see that the current directory holds one file, named part2. Next, the last time that file's contents were modified was 9:42 A.M. on May 16. The file contains 10,876 characters, or bytes. The owner of the file, or the user, belongs to the group dev (perhaps indicating development), and his or her login name is smith. The number, in this case 1, indicates the number of links to file part2 (see cp(1)). The plus sign indicates that there is an ACL associated with the file. If the -@ option has been specified, the presence of extended attributes supersede the presence of an ACL and the plus sign is replaced with an 'at' sign ( @). Finally, the dash and letters tell you that user, group, and others have permissions to read, write, and execute part2.
The execute ( x) symbol occupies the third position of the three-character sequence. A − in the third position would have indicated a denial of execution permissions.
The permissions are indicated as follows:
r
The file is readable.
w
The file is writable.
x
The file is executable.
−
The indicated permission is not granted.
s
The set-user-ID or set-group-ID bit is on, and the corresponding user or group execution bit is also on.
S
Undefined bit-state (the set-user-ID or set-group-id bit is on and the user or group execution bit is off). For group permissions, this applies only to non-regular files.
t
The 1000 (octal) bit, or sticky bit, is on (see chmod(1)), and execution is on.
T
The 1000 bit is turned on, and execution is off (undefined bit-state).

l
Mandatory locking occurs during access (on a regular file, the set-group-ID bit is on and the group execution bit is off).

L
Mandatory locking occurs during access (on a regular file, the set-group-ID bit is on and the group execution bit is off).
For user and group permissions, the third position is sometimes occupied by a character other than x or -. s or S also can occupy this position, referring to the state of the set-ID bit, whether it be the user's or the group's. The ability to assume the same ID as the user during execution is, for example, used during login when you begin as root but need to assume the identity of the user you login as.
In the case of the sequence of group permissions, l can occupy the third position. l refers to mandatory file and record locking. This permission describes a file's ability to allow other files to lock its reading or writing permissions during access.
For others permissions, the third position can be occupied by t or T. These refer to the state of the sticky bit and execution permissions.

If color output is enabled, the environment variable LS_COLORS is checked. If it exists, it's contents are used to control the colors used to display filenames. If it is not set, a default list of colors is used. The format of LS_COLORS is a colon separated list of attribute specifications. Each attribute specification is of the format 

filespec=attr[;attr..]

filespec is either of the form *.SUFFIX, for example, *.jar or *.Z, or one of the following file types:
no
Normal file
fi
Regular file
di
Directory
ln
Symbolic link
pi
FIFO or named pipe
so
Socket
do
Door file
bd
Block device
cd
Character device
ex
Execute bit (either user, group, or other) set
po
Event port
st
Sticky bit set
or
Orphaned symlink
sg
setgid binary
su
setuid binary
ow
world writable
tw
Sticky bit and world writable
attr is a semicolon delimited list of color and display attributes which are combined to determine the final output color. Any combination of attr values can be specified. Possible attr values are:
00
All attributes off (default terminal color)
01
Display text in bold
04
Display text with an underscore
05
Display text in bold
07
Display text with foreground and background colors reversed
08
Display using concealed text.
One of the following values can be chosen. If multiple values are specified, the last specified value is used.
30
Set foreground to black.
31
Set foreground to red.
32
Set foreground to green.
33
Set foreground to yellow.
34
Set foreground to blue.
35
Set foreground to magenta (purple).
Set foreground to .
36
Set foreground to cyan.
37
Set foreground to white.
39
Set foreground to default terminal color.
One of the following can be specified. If multiple values are specified, the last value specified is used.
40
Set foreground to black.
41
Set foreground to red.
42
Set foreground to green.
43
Set foreground to yellow.
44
Set foreground to blue.
45
Set foreground to magenta (purple).
46
Set foreground to cyan.
47
Set foreground to white.
49
Set foreground to default terminal color.
On some terminals, setting the bold attribute causes the foreground colors to be high-intensity, that is, brighter. In such cases the low-intensity yellow is often displayed as a brown or orange color.
At least one attribute must be listed for a file specification.
The appropriate color codes are chosen by selecting the most specific match, starting with the file suffixes and proceeding with the file types until a match is found. The no (normal file) type matches any file.

The following options are supported:

The following options are supported for all three versions:
-a
 
--all
Lists all entries, including those that begin with a dot ( .), which are normally not listed.
-A
 
--almost-all
Lists all entries, including those that begin with a dot ( .), with the exception of the working directory ( .) and the parent directory ( ..).
-b
 
--escape
Forces printing of non-printable characters to be in the octal \ddd notation.
-B
 
--ignore-backups
Do not display any files ending with a tilde (~).
-c
Uses time of last modification of the i-node (file created, mode changed, and so forth) for sorting ( -t) or printing (-l or -n).
-C
Multi-column output with entries sorted down the columns. This is the default output format.
-d
If an argument is a directory, lists only its name (not its contents). Often used with -l to get the status of a directory.
-e
The same as -l, except displays time to the second, and with one format for all files regardless of age: mmm dd hh:mm:ss yyyy.
-E
The same as -l, except displays time to the nanosecond and with one format for all files regardless of age: yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.nnnnnnnnn (ISO 8601:2000 format).
In addition, this option displays the offset from UTC in ISO 8601:2000 standard format (+ hhmm or -hhmm) or no characters if the offset is indeterminable. The offset reflects the appropriate standard or alternate offset in force at the file's displayed date and time, under the current timezone.
-f
Forces each argument to be interpreted as a directory and list the name found in each slot. This option turns off -l, -t, -s, -S, and -r, and turns on -a. The order is the order in which entries appear in the directory.
-F
 
--classify
Append a symbol after certain types of files to indicate the file type. The following symbols are used:
/
Directory
>
Door file
|
Named pipe (FIFO)
@
Symbolic link
=
Socket
*
Executable
-g
The same as -l, except that the owner is not printed.
-h
 
--human-readable
All sizes are scaled to a human readable format, for example, 14K, 234M, 2.7G, or 3.0T. Scaling is done by repetitively dividing by 1024. The last --si or -h option determines the divisor used.
-H
 
--dereference-command-line
If an argument is a symbolic link that references a directory, this option evaluates the file information and file type of the directory that the link references, rather than those of the link itself. However, the name of the link is displayed, rather than the referenced directory.
-i
 
--inode
For each file, prints the i-node number in the first column of the report.
-k
All sizes are printed in kbytes. Equivalent to --block-size=1024.
-l
Lists in long format, giving mode, ACL indication, number of links, owner, group, size in bytes, and time of last modification for each file (see above). If the file is a special file, the size field instead contains the major and minor device numbers. If the time of last modification is greater than six months ago, it is shown in the format `month date year' for the POSIX locale. When the LC_TIME locale category is not set to the POSIX locale, a different format of the time field can be used. Files modified within six months show `month date time'. If the file is a symbolic link, the filename is printed followed by " →" and the path name of the referenced file.
-L
 
--dereference
If an argument is a symbolic link, this option evaluates the file information and file type of the file or directory that the link references, rather than those of the link itself. However, the name of the link is displayed, rather than the referenced file or directory.
-m
Streams output format. Files are listed across the page, separated by commas.
-n
 
--numeric-uid-gid
The same as -l, except that the owner's UID and group's GID numbers are printed, rather than the associated character strings. Files for which owner and/or group is a Windows Security Identifier ( SID), -n suppresses any lookups for the Windows Name string and prints only the raw SID. Moreover, a second instance of this flag ( -nn) can be used to further suppress idmapd(1M) lookups of the file's owner and/or group SID, thus forcing ls into printing the raw ephemeral numeric identifiers.
-o
 
--no-group
The same as -l, except that the group is not printed.
-p
Puts a slash (/) after each filename if the file is a directory.
-q
 
--hide-control-chars
Forces printing of non-printable characters in file names as the character question mark ( ?).
-r
 
--reverse
Reverses the order of sort to get reverse alphabetic, oldest first, or smallest file size first as appropriate.
-R
 
--recursive
Recursively lists subdirectories encountered.
-s
 
--size
Indicate the total number of file system blocks consumed by each file displayed.
-S
Sort by file size (in decreasing order) and for files with the same size by file name (in increasing alphabetic order) instead of just by name.
-t
Sorts by time stamp (latest first) instead of by name. The default is the last modification time. See -c, -u and -%.
-u
Uses time of last access instead of last modification for sorting (with the -t option) or printing (with the -l option).
-U
Output is unsorted.
-v
The same as -l, except that verbose ACL information is displayed as well as the -l output. ACL information is displayed even if the file or directory doesn't have an ACL.
-V
The same as -l, except that compact ACL information is displayed after the -l output.
The -V option is only applicable to file systems that support NFSv4 ACLs, such as the Solaris ZFS file system.
The format of the displayed ACL is as follows: 

entry_type : permissions : inheritance_flags : access_type

entry_type is displayed as one of the following:
user:username
Additional user access for username.
group:groupname
Additional group access for group groupname.
owner@
File owner.
group@
File group owner.
everyone@
Everyone access, including file owner and file group owner. This is not equivalent to the POSIX other class.
The following permissions, supported by the NFSv4 ACL model, are displayed by using the -v or -V options:
read_data (r)
Permission to read the data of a file.
list_directory (r)
Permission to list the contents of a directory.
write_data (w)
Permission to modify a file's data. anywhere in the file's offset range.
add_file (w)
Permission to add a new file to a directory.
append_data (p)
The ability to modify a file's data, but only starting at EOF.
add_subdirectory (p)
Permission to create a subdirectory to a directory.
read_xattr (R)
Ability to read the extended attributes of a file.
write_xattr (W)
Ability to create extended attributes or write to the extended attribute directory.
execute (x)
Permission to execute a file.
read_attributes (a)
The ability to read basic attributes (non-ACLs) of a file.
write_attributes (A)
Permission to change the times associated with a file or directory to an arbitrary value.
delete (d)
Permission to delete a file.
delete_child (D)
Permission to delete a file within a directory.
read_acl (c)
Permission to read the ACL of a file.
write_acl (C)
Permission to write the ACL of a file.
write_owner (o)
Permission to change the owner of a file.
synchronize (s)
Permission to access file locally at server with synchronize reads and writes.
-
No permission granted
The following inheritance flags, supported by the NFSv4 ACL model, are displayed by using the -v or -V options:
file_inherit (f)
Inherit to all newly created files.
dir_inherit (d)
Inherit to all newly created directories.
inherit_only (i)
When placed on a directory, do not apply to the directory, only to newly created files and directories. This flag requires that either file_inherit and or dir_inherit is also specified.
no_propagate (n)
Indicates that ACL entries should be inherited to objects in a directory, but inheritance should stop after descending one level. This flag is dependent upon either file_inherit and or dir_inherit also being specified.
successful_access (S)
Indicates whether an alarm or audit record should be initiated upon successful accesses. Used with audit/alarm ACE types.
failed_access (F)
Indicates whether an alarm or audit record should be initiated when access fails. Used with audit/alarm ACE types.
inherited (I)
ACE was inherited.
-
No permission granted.
access_type is displayed as one of the following types:
alarm
Permission field that specifies permissions that should trigger an alarm.
allow
Permission field that specifies allow permissions.
audit
Permission field that specifies permissions that should be audited.
deny
Permission field that specifies deny permissions.
For example: 

$ ls -dV /sandbox/dir.1
  drwxr-xr-x+  2 root     root           2 Jan 17 15:09 dir.1
                  user:marks:r-------------:fd-----:allow
                      owner@:--------------:-------:deny
                      owner@:rwxp---A-W-Co-:-------:allow
                      group@:-w-p----------:-------:deny
                      group@:r-x-----------:-------:allow
                   everyone@:-w-p---A-W-Co-:-------:deny
                   everyone@:r-x---a-R-c--s:-------:allow
$
                           ||||||||||||||||:||||||+ inherited access
                             ||||||||||||||:||||||+ failed access
                             ||||||||||||||:|||||+--success access
                             ||||||||||||||:||||+-- no propagate
                             ||||||||||||||:|||+--- inherit only
                             ||||||||||||||:||+---- directory inherit
                             ||||||||||||||:|+----- file inherit
                             ||||||||||||||
                             ||||||||||||||+ sync
                             |||||||||||||+- change owner
                             ||||||||||||+-- write ACL
                             |||||||||||+--- read ACL
                             ||||||||||+---- write extended attributes
                             |||||||||+----- read extended attributes
                             ||||||||+------ write attributes
                             |||||||+------- read attributes
                             ||||||+-------- delete child
                             |||||+--------- delete
                             ||||+---------- append
                             |||+----------- execute
                             ||+------------ write data
                             |+------------- read data

-w cols
 
--width cols
Multi-column output where the column width is forced to cols.
-x
Multi-column output with entries sorted across rather than down the page.
-1
Prints one entry per line of output.
-@
The same as -l, except that extended attribute information overrides ACL information. An @ is displayed after the file permission bits for files that have extended attributes.
-/ c | v
The same as -l, and in addition displays the extended system attributes associated with the file when extended system attributes are fully supported by the underlying file system. The option -/ supports two option arguments c (compact mode) and v (verbose mode).
appendonly
Allows a file to be modified only at offset EOF. Attempts to modify a file at a location other than EOF fails with EPERM.
archive
Indicates if a file has been modified since it was last backed up. Whenever the modification time ( mtime) of a file is changed the archive attribute is set.
av_modified
ZFS sets the anti-virus attribute which whenever a file's content or size changes or when the file is renamed.
av_quarantined
Anti-virus software sets to mark a file as quarantined.
crtime
Timestamp when a file is created.
hidden
Marks a file as hidden.
immutable
Prevents the content of a file from being modified. Also prevents all metadata changes, except for access time updates. When placed on a directory, prevents the deletion and creation of files in the directories. Attempts to modify the content of a file or directory marked as immutable fail with EPERM. Attempts to modify any attributes (with the exception of access time and, with the proper privileges, the immutable) of a file marked as immutable fails with EPERM.
nodump
Solaris systems have no special semantics for this attribute.
nounlink
Prevents a file from being deleted. On a directory, the attribute also prevents any changes to the contents of the directory. That is, no files within the directory can be removed or renamed. The errno EPERM is returned when attempting to unlink or rename files and directories that are marked as nounlink.
offline
Indicate that a file is offline. Solaris systems have no special semantics for this attribute.
readonly
Marks a file as readonly. Once a file is marked as readonly the content data of the file cannot be modified. Other metadata for the file can still be modified.
sparse
Indicate that a file can be interpreted as sparse. It does not indicate that the file is actually sparse or not. The sparse attribute is cleared when the file is truncated to zero length. Solaris systems have no other special semantics for this attribute.
system
Solaris systems have no special semantics for this attribute.
The display characters used in compact mode ( -/ c) are as follows: 

Attribute Name     Display
archive            A
hidden             H
readonly           R
system             S
appendonly         a
nodump             d
immutable          i
av_modified        m
av_quarantined     q
nounlink           u
offline            O
sparse             s

The display in verbose mode ( -/ v) uses full attribute names when it is set and the name prefixed by 'no' when it is not set.
The attribute name crtime and all other timestamps are handled by the option -% with the respective timestamp option arguments and also with all option argument. The display positions are as follows: The display in verbose mode ( -/ v) uses full attribute names when it is set and the name prefixed by no when it is not set. The attribute name crtime and all other timestamps are handled by the option -% with the respective timestamp option arguments and also with all option argument.
The display positions are as follows: 

{||||||||||||}
 |||||||||||+- s (sparse)
 ||||||||||+-- O (offline)
 |||||||||+--- u (nounlink)
 ||||||||+---- q (av_quarantined)
 |||||||+----- m (av_modified)
 ||||||+------ i (immutable)
 |||||+------- d (nodump)
 ||||+-------- a (appendonly)
 |||+--------- S (system)
 ||+---------- R (readonly)
 |+----------- H (hidden)
 +------------ A (archive)



-% atime | crtime | ctime | mtime | all

atime
Equivalent to -u.
crtime
Uses the creation time of the file for sorting or printing.
ctime
Equivalent to -c.
mtime
Uses the last modification time of the file contents for sorting or printing.
If extended system attributes are not supported or if the user does not have read permission on the file or if the crtime extended attribute is not set, crtime is treated as a synonym for mtime.
When option argument all is specified, all available timestamps are printed which includes atime, ctime, mtime and on the extended system attribute supporting file systems, crtime (create time). The option -% all does not effect which timestamp is displayed in long format and does not affect sorting.
--block-size size
Display sizes in multiples of size. Size can be scaled by suffixing one of YyZzEePpTtGgMmKk. Additionally, a B can be placed at the end to indicate powers of 10 instead of 2. For example, . 10mB means blocks of 10000000 bytes while 10m means blocks of 10*2^20 -- 10485760 -- bytes. This is mutually exclusive with the -h option.
--color [=when]
 
--colour[=when]
Display filenames using color on color-capable terminals. when is an optional argument that determines when to display color output.
Possible values for when are:
always
 
yes
 
force
Always use color.
auto
 
tty
 
if-tty
Use color if a terminal is present.
no
 
never
 
none
Never use color. This is the default
See COLOR OUTPUT for information on how to control the output colors.
--file-type
Display a suffix after a file depending on it's type, similar to the -F option, except * is not appended to executable files.
-si
 
--
Display human scaled sizes similar to the -h option, except values are repeatedly divided by 1000 instead of 1024. The last option --si or -h determines the divisor used.
--time-style style
Display times using the specified style. This does not effect the times displayed for extended attributes ( -%).
Possible values for style are:
full-iso
Equivalent to -E.
long-iso
Display in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM for all files.
iso
Display older files using YYYY-MM-DD and newer files with MM-DD HH:MM.
locale
Use the default locale format for old and new files. This is the default.
+FORMAT
Use a custom format. Values are the same as described in strftime(3C). If a NEWLINE appears in the string, the first line is used for older files and the second line is used for newer files. Otherwise, the given format is used for all files.

-F
Marks directories with a trailing slash (/), doors with a trailing greater-than sign ( >), executable files with a trailing asterisk ( *), FIFOs with a trailing vertical bar (|), symbolic links with a trailing "at" sign ( @), and AF_UNIX address family sockets with a trailing equals sign ( =). Follows symlinks named as operands.
--file-type
Marks entries as with -F with the exception of executable files. Executable files are not marked. Follows symlinks named as operands.
Specifying more than one of the options in the following mutually exclusive pairs is not considered an error: -C and -l (ell), -m and -l (ell), -x and -l (ell), -@ and -l (ell). The -l option overrides the other option specified in each pair.
Specifying more than one of the options in the following mutually exclusive groups is not considered an error: -C and -1 (one), -H and -L, -c and -u, and -e and -E, and -t and -S. The last option specifying a specific timestamp (-c, -u, -% atime , -% crtime, -% ctime, and -% mtime) determines the timestamps used for sorting or in long format listings. The last option -t, -S, or -U determines the sorting behavior.

-F
Marks directories with a trailing slash (/), doors with a trailing greater-than sign ( >), executable files with a trailing asterisk ( *), FIFOs with a trailing vertical bar (|), symbolic links with a trailing "at" sign ( @), and AF_UNIX address family sockets with a trailing equals sign ( =). Follows symlinks named as operands.
--file-type
Marks entries as with -F with the exception of executable files. Executable files are not marked. Follows symlinks named as operands.
Specifying more than one of the options in the following groups of mutually exclusive options is not considered an error: -C and -l (ell), -m and -l (ell), -x and -l (ell), -@ and -l (ell), -C and -1 (one), -H and -L, -c and -u, -e and -E, -t and -S and -U. The last option specifying a specific timestamp ( -c, -u, -% atime , -% crtime, -% ctime, and -% mtime) determines the timestamps used for sorting or in long format listings. The last -t, -S, or -U option determines the sorting behavior.

-F
Marks directories with a trailing slash (/), doors with a trailing greater-than sign ( >), executable files with a trailing asterisk ( *), FIFOs with a trailing vertical bar (|), symbolic links with a trailing "at" sign ( @), and AF_UNIX address family sockets with a trailing equals sign ( =). Does not follow symlinks named as operands unless the -H or -L option is specified.
--file-type
Marks entries as with -F with the exception of executable files. Executable files are not marked. Does not follow symlinks named as operands unless the -H or -L option is specified.
Specifying more than one of the options in the following mutually exclusive pairs is not considered an error: -C and -l (ell), m and -l(ell), -x and -l (ell), -@ and -l (ell), -C and -1 (one), -H and --L, -c and -u, -e and -E, -t and -S and -U. The last option specifying a specific timestamp ( -c, -u, -% atime , -% crtime, -% ctime, and -% mtime) determines the timestamps used for sorting or in long format listings. The last -t, -S, or -U option determines the sorting behavior.

The following operand is supported:
file
A path name of a file to be written. If the file specified is not found, a diagnostic message is output on standard error.

See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of ls when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes).

Example 1 Viewing File Permissions
The following example shows how to display detailed information about a file. 

% ls -l file.1
-rw-r--r--   1 gozer    staff     206663 Mar 14 10:15 file.1

The permissions string above ( -rw-r--r--) describes that the file owner has read and write permissions, the owning group has read permissions, and others have read permissions.
The following example shows how to display detailed information about a directory. 

% ls -ld test.dir
drwxr-xr-x   2 gozer    staff          2 Mar 14 10:17 test.dir

The permissions string above ( drwxr-xr-x) describes that the directory owner has read, write, and search permissions, the owning group has read and search permissions, and others have read and search permissions.
Another example of listing file permissions is as follows: 

% ls -l file.2
-rw-rwl---   1 gozer    staff     206663 Mar 14 10:47 file.2

The permissions string above ( -rw-rwl---) describes that the file owner has read and write permissions, the owning group has read and write permissions, and the file can be locked during access.
Example 2 Displaying ACL Information on Files and Directories
The following example shows how to display verbose ACL information on a ZFS file. 

% ls -v file.1
-rw-r--r--   1 marks    staff     206663 Mar 14 10:15 file.1
     0:owner@:execute:deny
     1:owner@:read_data/write_data/append_data/write_xattr/write_attributes
          /write_acl/write_owner:allow
     2:group@:write_data/append_data/execute:deny
     3:group@:read_data:allow
     4:everyone@:write_data/append_data/write_xattr/execute/write_attributes
          /write_acl/write_owner:deny
     5:everyone@:read_data/read_xattr/read_attributes/read_acl/synchronize
          :allow

The following example shows how to display compact ACL information on a ZFS directory. 

% ls -dV test.dir
drwxr-xr-x   2 marks    staff          2 Mar 14 10:17 test.dir
            owner@:--------------:------:deny
            owner@:rwxp---A-W-Co-:------:allow
            group@:-w-p----------:------:deny
            group@:r-x-----------:------:allow
            everyone@:-w-p---A-W-Co-:------:deny
            everyone@:r-x---a-R-c--s:------:allow

The following example illustrates the ls -v behavior when listing ACL information on a UFS file. 

$ ls -v file.3
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root        2703 Mar 14 10:59 file.3
     0:user::rw-
     1:group::r--               #effective:r--
     2:mask:r--
     3:other:r--

Example 3 Printing the Names of All Files
The following example prints the names of all files in the current directory, including those that begin with a dot ( .), which normally do not print: 

example%  ls -a

Example 4 Providing File Information
The following example provides file information: 

example% ls -aisn

This command provides information on all files, including those that begin with a dot ( a), the i-number, the memory address of the i-node associated with the file—printed in the left-hand column ( i); the size (in blocks) of the files, printed in the column to the right of the i-numbers ( s); finally, the report is displayed in the numeric version of the long list, printing the UID (instead of user name) and GID (instead of group name) numbers associated with the files.
When the sizes of the files in a directory are listed, a total count of blocks, including indirect blocks, is printed.
Example 5 Providing Extended System Attributes Information 

example% ls -/ c file    (extended system attribute in compact mode)
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           0 May 10 14:17 file
                         {AHRSadim-u--}

In this example, av_quarantined, offline, and sparse are not set. 

example% ls -/ v file (extended system attribute in verbose mode)
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           0 May 10 14:17 file
		{archive,hidden,readonly,system,\
		 appendonly,nodump,immutable,av_modified,\
		 noav_quarantined,nounlink,nooffline,\
		 nosparse}


example% ls -/ v file     (no extended system attribute)
-rw-r--r--  1 root    staff        0 May 16 14:48 file
               {}


example% ls -/ c file        (extended system attribute
                              supported file system)


-rw-r--r--  1 root staff        3 Jun  4 22:04 file
               {A------m----}

archive and av_modified attributes are set by default on an extended system attribute supported file. 

example% ls -/ c  -%crtime file


-rw-r--r--    root     root          0 May 10 14:17 file
               {AHRSadim-u--}

This example displays the timestamp as the creation time: 

example% ls -l -%all file
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           0 May 10 14:17    file
                timestamp: atime    Jun 14 08:47:37 2007
                timestamp: ctime    May 10 14:20:23 2007
                timestamp: mtime    May 10 14:17:56 2007
                timestamp: crtime   May 10 14:17:56 2007


example% ls -%crtime -tl file*


-rw-r--r--   1 foo      staff          3 Jun  4 22:04 file1
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root           0 May 10 14:17 file
-rw-r--r--   1 foo      staff          0 May  9 13:49 file.1

In this example the files are sorted by creation time.

See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of ls: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE, LC_CTYPE, LC_TIME, LC_MESSAGES, NLSPATH, and TZ.
COLUMNS
Determines the user's preferred column position width for writing multiple text-column output. If this variable contains a string representing a decimal integer, the ls utility calculates how many path name text columns to write (see -C) based on the width provided. If COLUMNS is not set or is invalid, 80 is used. The column width chosen to write the names of files in any given directory is constant. File names are not be truncated to fit into the multiple text-column output.
LS_COLORS
Determines the coloring scheme used when displaying color output. If not set and color output is specified, a default scheme is used. If TERM is not set, no color output is used.
TERM
Determine the terminal type. If this variable is unset or NULL, no color output is generated regardless of the value of the --color option.

0
All information was written successfully.
>0
An error occurred.

/etc/group
group IDs for ls -l and ls -g
/etc/passwd
user IDs for ls -l and ls -o
/usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*
terminal information database

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
CSI Enabled
Interface Stability Committed
Standard See below.
For all options except -A, -b, -e, -E, -h, -S, U -v, -V, -@, -/, -%, --all, --almost-all, --block-size, --classify, --color, --colour, --dereference, --dereference-command-line, --escape, --file-type, --full-time, --human-readable, --ignore-backups, --inode, --no-group, --numeric-uid-gid, --reverse, --recursive, --si, --size, and --time-style, see standards(5).

ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
CSI Enabled
Interface Stability Committed
Standard See below.
For all options except -A, -b, -e, -E, -h, -S, U -v, -V, -@, -/, -%, --all, --almost-all, --block-size, --classify, --color, --colour, --dereference, --dereference-command-line, --escape, --file-type, --full-time, --human-readable, --ignore-backups, --inode, --no-group, --numeric-uid-gid, --reverse, --recursive, --si, --size, and --time-style, see standards(5).

ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
CSI Enabled
Interface Stability Committed
Standard See below.
For all options except -A, -b, -e, -E, -h, -S, U -v, -V, -@, -/, -%, --all, --almost-all, --block-size, --classify, --color, --colour, --dereference, --dereference-command-line, --escape, --file-type, --full-time, --human-readable, --ignore-backups, --inode, --no-group, --numeric-uid-gid, --reverse, --recursive, --si, --size, and --time-style, see standards(5).

chmod(1), cp(1), setfacl(1), fgetattr(3C), strftime(3C), terminfo(4), acl(5), attributes(5), environ(5), fsattr(5), largefile(5), standards(5), idmapd(1M)

Unprintable characters in file names can confuse the columnar output options.
The total block count is incorrect if there are hard links among the files.
The sort order of ls output is affected by the locale and can be overridden by the LC_COLLATE environment variable. For example, if LC_COLLATE equals C, dot files appear first, followed by names beginning with upper-case letters, then followed by names beginning with lower-case letters. But if LC_COLLATE equals en_US.ISO8859-1, then leading dots as well as case are ignored in determining the sort order.
For additional information regarding Windows Security Identifiers, consult Microsoft support document, Well-known security identifiers in Windows operating systems, which can be found at Microsoft's support site: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/243330/.
July 1, 2016