ls

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Syntax

ls [OPTIONS] [PATH...]

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Description

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Options

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Parameters

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Behavior

• Default mode: Lists visible files in current directory, one per line
• Directories: Appended with / in short format
• Hidden files: Files starting with . are hidden unless -a is used
• Long format: Shows permissions, size, and name
• Multiple paths: Lists each path with headers
• Flag combining: Flags can be combined (e.g., -la, -al)

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Examples

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List current directory

ls

Desktop/
Documents/
Downloads/
welcome.txt

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List with hidden files

ls -a

./
../
.bashrc
.nashrc
Desktop/
Documents/
Downloads/
welcome.txt

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Long format listing

ls -l

drwxr-xr-x  Desktop
drwxr-xr-x  Documents
drwxr-xr-x  Downloads
-rw-r--r--       156  welcome.txt

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Long format with hidden files

ls -la

drwxr-xr-x  .
drwxr-xr-x  ..
-rw-r--r--       245  .bashrc
-rw-r--r--       128  .nashrc
drwxr-xr-x  Desktop
drwxr-xr-x  Documents
drwxr-xr-x  Downloads
-rw-r--r--       156  welcome.txt

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List specific directory

ls /home/user/Documents

report.txt
notes.md
spreadsheet.csv

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List multiple directories

ls /tmp /home/user

/tmp:
cache/
temp_file.txt

/home/user:
Desktop/
Documents/
Downloads/
welcome.txt

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List a single file

ls config.json

/home/user/config.json

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Output Format

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Short Format (default)

• Directories shown with trailing /
• One entry per line
• No size or permission information

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Long Format (-l)

-rw-r--r--       1234  filename.txt
drwxr-xr-x            dirname

• Column 1: Permissions (d for directory, - for file)
• Column 2: Size in bytes (right-aligned, only for files)
• Column 3: Filename

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Error Handling

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Directory doesn’t exist

ls /nonexistent

ls: cannot access '/nonexistent': No such file or directory

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Permission denied (read-only mount)

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Implementation Details

• Source: src/builtins/ls.rs
• Uses vfs.list_dir() to enumerate directory entries
• Checks vfs.is_dir() to determine entry types
• Reads file size using vfs.read() for long format
• Filters entries starting with . unless -a is specified
• Supports flag combining (e.g., -la parsed as -l + -a)

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Differences from Unix ls

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Use Cases

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Check directory contents

ls

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Find hidden configuration files

ls -a | grep "^\."

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Check file sizes

ls -l | grep -v "^d"

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List all subdirectories

ls -l | grep "^d"

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Verify file creation

touch newfile.txt
ls -l newfile.txt

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List mounted directories

# nash --bind ./data:/data
ls /data

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Common Patterns

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Count files in directory

ls | wc -l

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Find largest files

ls -l | sort -k2 -n

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List only directories

ls -l | grep "^d" | cut -d' ' -f3

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Check if directory is empty

if test $(ls | wc -l) -eq 0; then
  echo "Directory is empty"
fi

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List files recursively (using find)

find . -type f

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Create directory listing for documentation

ls -la > directory_listing.txt

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Working with Pipes

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Filter by extension

ls | grep "\.txt$"

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Process each file

ls | while read file; do
  echo "Processing: $file"
  cat "$file" | wc -l
done

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Find specific files

ls -a | grep "config"

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Display Format Examples

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Short format

user@nash:/home/user$ ls
Desktop/
Documents/
Downloads/
welcome.txt

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Long format for files

user@nash:/home/user$ ls -l
-rw-r--r--       156  welcome.txt
-rw-r--r--      2048  config.json
-rw-r--r--       512  notes.md

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Long format for directories

user@nash:/home/user$ ls -l /
drwxr-xr-x  bin
drwxr-xr-x  etc
drwxr-xr-x  home
drwxr-xr-x  tmp
drwxr-xr-x  usr
drwxr-xr-x  var

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Mixed content

user@nash:/home/user$ ls -l
drwxr-xr-x  Desktop
drwxr-xr-x  Documents
-rw-r--r--       156  welcome.txt
-rw-r--r--      2048  config.json

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Related Commands

• tree - Recursive directory tree view
• find - Search for files
• stat - Detailed file information
• file - Determine file type
• cd - Change directory
• pwd - Print working directory