LS command allows you to list files in Linux in many different ways such as by name, by date, by size, recursively within directories. Let us look at how to list files in Linux / Unix in different ways.
How to List Files in Linux / Unix
Here are different ways to list files in Linux / Unix.
List Files in Linux By Name
You can list files by name in Linux by simply issuing ls command in terminal.
$ ls test.txt sample.zip file.js app.css test1.txt dev.zip document.jpg app2.css
Bonus Read : How to Install Zip and Unzip in Linux
List Files in Linux By Date
You can list files by date in Linux by simply issuing ls -lt command in terminal.
$ ls -lt total 115784 -rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 232513 Feb 22 09:26 file.js drwxr-xr-x 20 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Jun 4 2018 modules drwxrwxr-x 7 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Jun 1 2018 Apps drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 May 1 2016 oradiag_root drwxr-xr-x 3 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Apr 9 2016 oradiag_ubuntu
In the above command -l option lists all details of each file such as permissions, owner, date time, and file name. The -t option sorts the output by date, latest date first and oldest date last.
If you want to reverse the order of dates use -r option with -lt, that is, ls -lrt
If you also want to list hidden files, include -a option. If you want to display file size in human readable format such as kb, Mb and Gb include -h option.
~$ ls -halt total 114M -rw------- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 549K Aug 19 05:30 .mysql_history -rw------- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 44K Aug 18 14:07 .bash_history drwxrwxr-x 3 ubuntu ubuntu 4.0K Aug 17 14:25 .virtualenvs -rw------- 1 root root 40K Aug 16 11:15 .viminfo -rw-r--r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 5.2M Jul 5 05:29 supervisord.log drwx------ 7 ubuntu ubuntu 4.0K Apr 7 06:55 Dropbox -rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 228K Feb 22 09:26 file.js ...
Bonus Read : How to Get Disk Space in Linux
List Files in Linux By Size
You can list files in linux by size using -lS options. By default, linux will list files in decreasing order of size.
$ ls -lS total 115784 -rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 81565109 Sep 8 2019 bkp-2019-09-08.sql -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 14518469 Mar 30 2019 myapp_Friday.gz -rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 11390945 Jan 5 2019 awscli-bundle.zip -rw-r--r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 5449604 Jul 5 05:29 supervisord.log -rw-rw-r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 232513 Feb 22 09:26 file.js drwxr-xr-x 20 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Jun 4 2018 node_modules drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 May 1 2016 oradiag_root drwxr-xr-x 3 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Apr 9 2016 oradiag_ubuntu drwxrwxr-x 7 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Jun 1 2018 Apps -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1457 Jul 30 12:37 key.pem
List Files Recursively with Full Path
You can list files in linux recursively with full path using ls -R command. It will list each directory name and below each directory’s name, linux will list all the files present in that directory.
$ ls -R .: Dropbox mysql_backup.sh postit.sh tweet_list tweet.py App ./App: Apps bkp blog.ods Getting Started.pdf Photos Public ./Dropbox/Apps: Crossbox ./Dropbox/Apps/Crossbox: ./Dropbox/Public: How to use the Public folder.rtf
Hopefully, now you can easily list files in Linux / Unix.
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