pavement

Ls

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Equivalent to Windows' ''dir''.  Somebody should write a short article demonstrating its use and the more commonly used flags, and also a very brief treatise on how to use it with [[grep]] to good effect.
 
Equivalent to Windows' ''dir''.  Somebody should write a short article demonstrating its use and the more commonly used flags, and also a very brief treatise on how to use it with [[grep]] to good effect.
 +
 +
Most common flags:
 +
-a -- lists ''all'' files, including hidden files
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-l -- gives long listing, including [[permissions]], [[owner]], [[group]] and size
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 +
[[ls]] can (and is) used in conjunction with [[grep]] by using a [[pipe]] to send [[ls]] output -- which can easily fill your screen with enough entries to make you cross-eyed -- to more easily find what you're looking for. To give an example, let's say you're looking for a file that begins with '''name''' in your /etc directory. Doing an '''ls /etc''' gives you far too many entries and '''la -l''' the same thing but scrolling past you even faster. You could do a
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ls | more
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and look for all files that begin with '''name'''. But why waste your time going over each entry?
 +
ls -la | grep name
 +
will give you a long list of all files that have '''name''' in them.
 +
  
 
[[Category:System Commands]]
 
[[Category:System Commands]]

Revision as of 03:31, 28 August 2004

Equivalent to Windows' dir. Somebody should write a short article demonstrating its use and the more commonly used flags, and also a very brief treatise on how to use it with grep to good effect.

Most common flags:

-a -- lists all files, including hidden files
-l -- gives long listing, including permissions, owner, group and size

ls can (and is) used in conjunction with grep by using a pipe to send ls output -- which can easily fill your screen with enough entries to make you cross-eyed -- to more easily find what you're looking for. To give an example, let's say you're looking for a file that begins with name in your /etc directory. Doing an ls /etc gives you far too many entries and la -l the same thing but scrolling past you even faster. You could do a

ls | more

and look for all files that begin with name. But why waste your time going over each entry?

ls -la | grep name

will give you a long list of all files that have name in them.

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