Ls
| ls | |
|---|---|
Long file listing with ls --color=auto -l in Linux showing various modes, date formats, colors and appended indicators (executables and directories). | |
| Original author(s) | coreutils: Richard Stallman and David MacKenzie |
| Developer(s) | Various open-source and commercial developers |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Multics, Unix, Unix-like, Plan 9, Inferno, MSX-DOS |
| Type | Command |
| License | coreutils: GPLv3+ BusyBox: GPL-2.0-only Toybox: 0BSD Plan 9: MIT License |
ls is a shell command for listing files – including special files such as directories. Originally developed for Unix and later codified by POSIX and Single UNIX Specification, it is supported in many operating systems today, including Unix-like variants, Windows (via PowerShell and UnxUtils), EFI, and MSX-DOS (via MSX-DOS2 Tools).
The numerical computing environments MATLAB and GNU Octave include an ls
command with similar functionality.
In other environments, such as DOS, OS/2, and Command Prompt, similar functionality is provided by the dir command.
An ls command appeared in the first version of AT&T UNIX, the name inherited from Multics and short for "list". ls is part of the X/Open Portability Guide since issue 2 of 1987. It was inherited into the first version of POSIX.1 and the Single Unix Specification.