Overview
ls -l displays file system entries in detail, helping to grasp the attributes of each item at a glance. This is useful for checking security settings, disk usage, recent changes, and more.
Key Features
The key information obtainable through the ls -l option is as follows:
- View detailed permissions for files and directories
- Display file owner and group information
- Check file size and last modification time
- Show the number of hard links
Key Options
These are commonly used options with the ls command. They are particularly useful when combined with the -l option.
Display/Format
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Description:
`ls` Executes the command.
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Usage Examples
Various usage examples of the ls -l option.
View detailed list of the current directory
ls -lThe most basic usage of ls -l, which displays detailed information about files and directories in the current directory.
View detailed list with human-readable sizes
ls -lhAdds the -h option to display file sizes in K, M, G units for improved readability.
View detailed list including hidden files
ls -laAdds the -a option to display hidden files and directories starting with a dot (.) in detail.
View detailed list of a specific directory
ls -l /var/logDisplays detailed information about files and directories in the specified path.
View detailed list sorted by last modified time
ls -ltAdds the -t option to list files sorted by their last modification time, from newest to oldest.
Tips & Notes
The output of ls -l contains a lot of important information, so understanding the meaning of each field is crucial.
Explanation of ls -l output fields
The information represented by each column in the ls -l command output is as follows:
- First character: File type (d: directory, -: regular file, l: symbolic link, c: character device, b: block device, p: named pipe, s: socket)
- Next 9 characters: File permissions (read(r)/write(w)/execute(x) permissions for owner/group/others, respectively)
- Third field: Number of hard links (for directories, this includes the number of subdirectories + 2)
- Fourth field: File owner's username
- Fifth field: File group name
- Sixth field: File size in bytes (human-readable with -h option)
- Seventh field: Last modification month, day, time (or year)
- Last field: File or directory name
Usage Tips
ls -l can be combined with other commands to achieve powerful functionalities.
- The output of ls -l is often used with pipes (|) to filter or sort specific information by combining it with other commands like `grep`, `awk`, `sort`, etc.
- To check the total block usage of a directory, refer to the `total` value in the first line of the `ls -l` output.