projects / unix-history / blame
| Commit | Line | Data |
|---|---|---|
| 8c95d292 BJ |
1 | .TH LS UCB 2/24/79 UCB |
| 2 | .SH NAME | |
| 3 | ls \- list contents of directory | |
| 4 | .SH SYNOPSIS | |
| 5 | .B ls | |
| 6 | [ | |
| 7 | options | |
| 8 | ] name ... | |
| 9 | .SH DESCRIPTION | |
| 10 | .IR Ls (UCB) | |
| 11 | is similar to | |
| 12 | .IR ls (1) | |
| 13 | but has three possible listing formats. | |
| 14 | The format chosen depends on whether the output is going | |
| 15 | to a teletype, and may also be controlled by option flags. | |
| 16 | The default format for a teletype is to list the contents of directories | |
| 17 | in multi-column format, with the entries sorted down the columns. | |
| 18 | (See also the | |
| 19 | .B \-x | |
| 20 | option below.) | |
| 21 | If the standard output is not a teletype, the default format is to | |
| 22 | list one entry per line. | |
| 23 | This is the way | |
| 24 | .IR ls (1) | |
| 25 | always works. | |
| 26 | Finally, there is a stream output format in which files are listed | |
| 27 | across the page, separated by `,' characters. | |
| 28 | The | |
| 29 | .B \-m | |
| 30 | flag enables this format. | |
| 31 | .PP | |
| 32 | .B "Note:" | |
| 33 | Files which are not the contents of a directory being interpreted | |
| 34 | are always sorted across the page rather than down the page in columns. | |
| 35 | This is because the individual file names may be arbitrarily long. | |
| 36 | .PP | |
| 37 | New options are: | |
| 38 | .TP 4 | |
| 39 | .B \-m | |
| 40 | force stream output format | |
| 41 | .TP 4 | |
| 42 | .B \-1 | |
| 43 | force one entry per line output format, e.g. to a teletype | |
| 44 | .TP 4 | |
| 45 | .B \-c | |
| 46 | force multi-column output, e.g. to a file or a pipe | |
| 47 | .TP 4 | |
| 48 | .B \-q | |
| 49 | force printing of non-graphic characters in file names as | |
| 50 | the character `?'; this normally happens only if the output device is | |
| 51 | a teletype | |
| 52 | .TP 4 | |
| 53 | .B \-x | |
| 54 | force columnar printing to be sorted across rather than | |
| 55 | down the page; | |
| 56 | this is the default if the last character of the name the program is invoked | |
| 57 | with is not an `l' or an `s'. | |
| 58 | .SH SEE ALSO | |
| 59 | ls(1), l(UCB) | |
| 60 | .SH FILES | |
| 61 | /etc/passwd to get user ID's for | |
| 62 | .BR "ls \-l" "." | |
| 63 | .SH BUGS | |
| 64 | Newline and tab are considered printing characters in file names. | |
| 65 | .PP | |
| 66 | Output device is assumed to be 80 columns wide. | |
| 67 | Columns are basically 15 characters wide, 20 characters wide if | |
| 68 | .BR \-i " or " "\-s\fR is specified, 25 characters wide if both" | |
| 69 | .BR \-i " and " "\-s\fR are specified." | |
| 70 | In any case where | |
| 71 | .BR \-l "" | |
| 72 | or | |
| 73 | .BR \-n "" | |
| 74 | is specified, we assume | |
| 75 | only one entry will fit per line. | |
| 76 | .PP | |
| 77 | The option setting based on whether the output is a teletype is | |
| 78 | undesirable as: | |
| 79 | .PP | |
| 80 | .DT | |
| 81 | ls \-s | lpr | |
| 82 | .PP | |
| 83 | is much different than | |
| 84 | .PP | |
| 85 | ls \-s | |
| 86 | .PP | |
| 87 | On the other hand, not doing this setting would make old shell scripts | |
| 88 | which used | |
| 89 | .I ls | |
| 90 | almost certain losers, | |
| 91 | and then one could no longer do, e.g.: | |
| 92 | .PP | |
| 93 | ls \-s | sort \-nr | |
| 94 | .PP | |
| 95 | but would have to do | |
| 96 | .PP | |
| 97 | ls \-s \-1 | sort \-nr | |
| 98 | .PP | |
| 99 | Column widths choices are poor for terminals which can tab. |