Manual: dir
DIR(1) General Commands Manual DIR(1)
NAME
dir - List directory contents. Ignore files and directories starting with a '.' by default
SYNOPSIS
dir [--help] [--format] [-C ] [-l|--long] [-x ] [-T|--tabsize] [-m ] [--zero] [-D|--dired] [--hyperlink] [-1 ] [-o ]
[-g ] [-n|--numeric-uid-gid] [--quoting-style] [-N|--literal] [-b|--escape] [-Q|--quote-name] [-q|--hide-con‐
trol-chars] [--show-control-chars] [--time] [-c ] [-u ] [--hide] [-I|--ignore] [-B|--ignore-backups] [--sort] [-S ]
[-t ] [-v ] [-X ] [-U ] [-L|--dereference] [--dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir] [-H|--dereference-com‐
mand-line] [-G|--no-group] [--author] [-a|--all] [-A|--almost-all] [-f ] [-d|--directory] [-h|--human-readable]
[-k|--kibibytes] [--si] [--block-size] [-i|--inode] [-r|--reverse] [-R|--recursive] [-w|--width] [-s|--size]
[--color] [--indicator-style] [-F|--classify] [--file-type] [-p ] [--time-style] [--full-time] [-Z|--context]
[--group-directories-first] [-V|--version] [paths]
DESCRIPTION
List directory contents. Ignore files and directories starting with a '.' by default
OPTIONS
--help Print help information.
--format
Set the display format.
-C Display the files in columns.
-l, --long
Display detailed information.
-x List entries in rows instead of in columns.
-T, --tabsize
Assume tab stops at each COLS instead of 8
-m List entries separated by commas.
--zero List entries separated by ASCII NUL characters.
-D, --dired
generate output designed for Emacs' dired (Directory Editor) mode
--hyperlink[=] [default: never]
hyperlink file names WHEN
Possible values:
• always
• auto
• never
-1 List one file per line.
-o Long format without group information. Identical to --format=long with --no-group.
-g Long format without owner information.
-n, --numeric-uid-gid
-l with numeric UIDs and GIDs.
--quoting-style
Set quoting style.
Possible values:
• literal
• locale
• shell
• shell-escape
• shell-always
• shell-escape-always
• clocale
• c
• escape
-N, --literal
Use literal quoting style. Equivalent to `--quoting-style=literal`
-b, --escape
Use escape quoting style. Equivalent to `--quoting-style=escape`
-Q, --quote-name
Use C quoting style. Equivalent to `--quoting-style=c`
-q, --hide-control-chars
Replace control characters with '?' if they are not escaped.
--show-control-chars
Show control characters 'as is' if they are not escaped.
--time=
Show time in ``: access time (-u): atime, access, use; change time (-t): ctime, status. modification
time: mtime, modification. birth time: birth, creation;
-c If the long listing format (e.g., -l, -o) is being used, print the status change time (the 'ctime' in the in‐
ode) instead of the modification time. When explicitly sorting by time (--sort=time or -t) or when not using a
long listing format, sort according to the status change time.
-u If the long listing format (e.g., -l, -o) is being used, print the status access time instead of the modifica‐
tion time. When explicitly sorting by time (--sort=time or -t) or when not using a long listing format, sort
according to the access time.
--hide
do not list implied entries matching shell PATTERN (overridden by -a or -A)
-I, --ignore
do not list implied entries matching shell PATTERN
-B, --ignore-backups
Ignore entries which end with ~.
--sort=
Sort by ``: name, none (-U), time (-t), size (-S), extension (-X) or width
Possible values:
• name
• none
• time
• size
• version
• extension
• width
-S Sort by file size, largest first.
-t Sort by modification time (the 'mtime' in the inode), newest first.
-v Natural sort of (version) numbers in the filenames.
-X Sort alphabetically by entry extension.
-U Do not sort; list the files in whatever order they are stored in the directory. This is especially useful
when listing very large directories, since not doing any sorting can be noticeably faster.
-L, --dereference
When showing file information for a symbolic link, show information for the file the link references rather
than the link itself.
--dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir
Do not follow symlinks except when they link to directories and are given as command line arguments.
-H, --dereference-command-line
Do not follow symlinks except when given as command line arguments.
-G, --no-group
Do not show group in long format.
--author
Show author in long format. On the supported platforms, the author always matches the file owner.
-a, --all
Do not ignore hidden files (files with names that start with '.').
-A, --almost-all
In a directory, do not ignore all file names that start with '.', only ignore '.' and '..'.
-f List all files in directory order, unsorted. Equivalent to -aU. Disables --color unless explicitly specified.
-d, --directory
Only list the names of directories, rather than listing directory contents. This will not follow symbolic
links unless one of `--dereference-command-line (-H)`, `--dereference (-L)`, or `--dereference-com‐
mand-line-symlink-to-dir` is specified.
-h, --human-readable
Print human readable file sizes (e.g. 1K 234M 56G).
-k, --kibibytes
default to 1024-byte blocks for file system usage; used only with -s and per directory totals
--si Print human readable file sizes using powers of 1000 instead of 1024.
--block-size=
scale sizes by BLOCK_SIZE when printing them
-i, --inode
print the index number of each file
-r, --reverse
Reverse whatever the sorting method is e.g., list files in reverse alphabetical order, youngest first, small‐
est first, or whatever.
-R, --recursive
List the contents of all directories recursively.
-w, --width
Assume that the terminal is COLS columns wide.
-s, --size
print the allocated size of each file, in blocks
--color
Color output based on file type.
Possible values:
• always
• auto
• never
--indicator-style
Append indicator with style WORD to entry names: none (default), slash (-p), file-type (--file-type), clas‐
sify (-F)
Possible values:
• none
• slash
• file-type
• classify
-F, --classify[=]
Append a character to each file name indicating the file type. Also, for regular files that are executable,
append '*'. The file type indicators are '/' for directories, '@' for symbolic links, '|' for FIFOs, '=' for
sockets, '>' for doors, and nothing for regular files. when may be omitted, or one of:
none - Do not classify. This is the default.
auto - Only classify if standard output is a terminal.
always - Always classify. Specifying --classify and no when is equivalent to --classify=always. This will
not follow symbolic links listed on the command line unless the --dereference-command-line (-H), --dereference
(-L), or --dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir options are specified.
Possible values:
• always
• auto
• never
--file-type
Same as --classify, but do not append '*'
-p Append / indicator to directories.
--time-style
time/date format with -l; see TIME_STYLE below
--full-time
like -l --time-style=full-iso
-Z, --context
print any security context of each file
--group-directories-first
group directories before files; can be augmented with a --sort option, but any use of --sort=none (-U) dis‐
ables grouping
-V, --version
Print version
[paths]
EXTRA
The TIME_STYLE argument can be full-iso, long-iso, iso, locale or +FORMAT. FORMAT is interpreted like in date. Also
the TIME_STYLE environment variable sets the default style to use.
VERSION
v(uutils coreutils) 0.8.0
2026-04-16 DIR(1)