ls command

ls [-a] [-l] [-lh] [-R] [file_or_directory]
    

Let’s say you have some files and folders that you created in the terminal. After some time, if you want to see these files and directories but forget their names, you can type the ls command to list them.

Files and directories created:

• file1.txt
• file2.txt
• file3.txt
• .hiddenfile # hidden file
• docs/ # subdirectory

Output:

$ ls
file1.txt
file2.txt
file3.txt
docs
    

1. ls -a:
This command displays all files and folders, including hidden files (those starting with a .).

Output:

$ ls -a
. .. file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt .hiddenfile docs
    

2. ls -l:
It lists all files, folders, and subfolders vertically with their permissions (read, write, execute), owner (user), group, size (in machine-readable form), and date & time.

Output:

$ ls -l
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group 1200 Aug 25 10:20 file1.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group 2450 Aug 25 10:21 file2.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group 980 Aug 25 10:22 file3.txt
drwxr-xr-x 2 user group 4097 Aug 25 10:26 docs
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group 50 Aug 25 10:24 .hiddenfile
    

3. ls -lh:
This command is similar to ls -l, but it displays the sizes of files and folders in human-readable format, such as KB, MB, etc.

Output:

$ ls -lh
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group 1.2K Aug 25 10:20 file1.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group 2.4K Aug 25 10:21 file2.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group 980B Aug 25 10:22 file3.txt
drwxr-xr-x 2 user group 4.0K Aug 25 10:23 docs
-rw-r--r-- 1 user group 50B Aug 25 10:24 .hiddenfile
    

4. ls -R:
When you run this command on a directory, it lists the contents of that directory and all its subdirectories recursively

Output:

$ ls -R
.:
file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt docs .hiddenfile

./docs:
notes.txt report.pdf