Listing Files and Directories

The ls command is like your trusty torch in the maze-like filesystem – it lights up the contents of wherever you're standing. With it, you can look at, or "list" all the files and folders around you. ls has a bunch of options you can use to get a more detailed or different view.

Now, by just typing ls and pressing enter, you'll see a list of all the non-secretive items in your current location, otherwise known as the current working directory. However, some versions of Linux (Fedora and RHEL, for instance) like to be a bit clever. They've given ls a few additional settings right out of the box. To find out if your system has done something similar, you can try out the following command:

alias ls

List Example

Lets return to our $HOME directory, create a new directory called test, add a couple of different types of files, and then see what they look like with the ls command:

cd $HOME
mkdir test; cd test
touch scriptx.sh apple
chmod 755 scriptx.sh
mkdir Stuff
ln -s apple pointer_to_apple
ls

With the default ls alias in place, we can see that the directory Stuff shows up in blue, pointer_to_apple (a symbolic link, or "shortcut") appears as aqua, and scriptx.sh (which is an executable file) appears in green. All other regular files show up in white.

Typing ls -l to see a long listing of those files can make these different types of files clearer still:

ls -l

Examining the long listing above, you will notice that the first character of each line shows the type of file:

• - : indicates a regular file

• d: indicates a directory

• l: indicates a symbolic link

An executable file (a script or binary file that runs as a command) has execute bits turned on, x - more on this shortly...

The ls command lets you peek at hidden files too; those that start with a dot . By using the -a option, you can unveil these hidden treasures. If you take a look at a typical user's home directory, you'll spot a bunch of these dot-prefixed files and directories, including the .bashrc file that we were looking at earlier on: