coreutils: ls invocation

1 
1 10.1 ‘ls’: List directory contents
1 ==================================
1 
1 The ‘ls’ program lists information about files (of any type, including
1 directories).  Options and file arguments can be intermixed arbitrarily,
1 as usual.
1 
1    For non-option command-line arguments that are directories, by
1 default ‘ls’ lists the contents of directories, not recursively, and
1 omitting files with names beginning with ‘.’.  For other non-option
1 arguments, by default ‘ls’ lists just the file name.  If no non-option
1 argument is specified, ‘ls’ operates on the current directory, acting as
1 if it had been invoked with a single argument of ‘.’.
1 
1    By default, the output is sorted alphabetically, according to the
1 locale settings in effect.(1)  If standard output is a terminal, the
1 output is in columns (sorted vertically) and control characters are
1 output as question marks; otherwise, the output is listed one per line
1 and control characters are output as-is.
1 
1    Because ‘ls’ is such a fundamental program, it has accumulated many
1 options over the years.  They are described in the subsections below;
1 within each section, options are listed alphabetically (ignoring case).
1 The division of options into the subsections is not absolute, since some
1 options affect more than one aspect of ‘ls’’s operation.
1 
1    Exit status:
1 
1      0 success
1      1 minor problems  (e.g., failure to access a file or directory not
1        specified as a command line argument.  This happens when listing a
1        directory in which entries are actively being removed or renamed.)
1      2 serious trouble (e.g., memory exhausted, invalid option, failure
1        to access a file or directory specified as a command line argument
1        or a directory loop)
1 
1    Also see ⇒Common options.
1 

Menu

1 
· Which files are listed
· What information is listed
· Sorting the output
· Details about version sort
· General output formatting
· Formatting file timestamps
· Formatting the file names
1 
1    ---------- Footnotes ----------
1 
1    (1) If you use a non-POSIX locale (e.g., by setting ‘LC_ALL’ to
1 ‘en_US’), then ‘ls’ may produce output that is sorted differently than
1 you’re accustomed to.  In that case, set the ‘LC_ALL’ environment
1 variable to ‘C’.
1