The ls command in Linux is a widely-used command-line tool for listing the contents of a folder or directory. By default, ls only displays the contents of a specific directory without exploring its subdirectories.
The ls command in Linux is a widely-used command-line tool for listing the contents of a folder or directory. By default, ls only displays the contents of a specific directory without exploring its subdirectories.
Steps to get recursive directory listing in Linux:
- Use the recursive ls option to list files and folders.
$ ls -R recursive/ recursive/: subdirectory-01 subdirectory-02 recursive/subdirectory-01: file-01 file-02 file-03 recursive/subdirectory-02: file-01 file-02 file-03 $ ls -lR recursive/ recursive/: total 8 drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Ogos 28 11:10 subdirectory-01 drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Ogos 28 11:10 subdirectory-02 recursive/subdirectory-01: total 0 -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Ogos 28 11:10 file-01 -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Ogos 28 11:10 file-02 -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Ogos 28 11:10 file-03 recursive/subdirectory-02: total 0 -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Ogos 28 11:10 file-01 -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Ogos 28 11:10 file-02 -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Ogos 28 11:10 file-03
Other options for ls:
$ ls --help Usage: ls [OPTION]... [FILE]... List information about the FILEs (the current directory by default). Sort entries alphabetically if none of -cftuvSUX nor --sort is specified. Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. -a, --all do not ignore entries starting with . -A, --almost-all do not list implied . and .. --author with -l, print the author of each file -b, --escape print C-style escapes for nongraphic characters --block-size=SIZE with -l, scale sizes by SIZE when printing them; e.g., '--block-size=M'; see SIZE format below -B, --ignore-backups do not list implied entries ending with ~ -c with -lt: sort by, and show, ctime (time of last modification of file status information); with -l: show ctime and sort by name; otherwise: sort by ctime, newest first -C list entries by columns --color[=WHEN] colorize the output; WHEN can be 'always' (default if omitted), 'auto', or 'never'; more info below -d, --directory list directories themselves, not their contents -D, --dired generate output designed for Emacs' dired mode -f do not sort, enable -aU, disable -ls --color -F, --classify append indicator (one of */=>@|) to entries --file-type likewise, except do not append '*' --format=WORD across -x, commas -m, horizontal -x, long -l, single-column -1, verbose -l, vertical -C --full-time like -l --time-style=full-iso -g like -l, but do not list owner --group-directories-first group directories before files; can be augmented with a --sort option, but any use of --sort=none (-U) disables grouping -G, --no-group in a long listing, don't print group names -h, --human-readable with -l and -s, print sizes like 1K 234M 2G etc. --si likewise, but use powers of 1000 not 1024 -H, --dereference-command-line follow symbolic links listed on the command line --dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir follow each command line symbolic link that points to a directory --hide=PATTERN do not list implied entries matching shell PATTERN (overridden by -a or -A) --hyperlink[=WHEN] hyperlink file names; WHEN can be 'always' (default if omitted), 'auto', or 'never' --indicator-style=WORD append indicator with style WORD to entry names: none (default), slash (-p), file-type (--file-type), classify (-F) -i, --inode print the index number of each file -I, --ignore=PATTERN do not list implied entries matching shell PATTERN -k, --kibibytes default to 1024-byte blocks for disk usage; used only with -s and per directory totals -l use a long listing format -L, --dereference when showing file information for a symbolic link, show information for the file the link references rather than for the link itself -m fill width with a comma separated list of entries -n, --numeric-uid-gid like -l, but list numeric user and group IDs -N, --literal print entry names without quoting -o like -l, but do not list group information -p, --indicator-style=slash append / indicator to directories -q, --hide-control-chars print ? instead of nongraphic characters --show-control-chars show nongraphic characters as-is (the default, unless program is 'ls' and output is a terminal) -Q, --quote-name enclose entry names in double quotes --quoting-style=WORD use quoting style WORD for entry names: literal, locale, shell, shell-always, shell-escape, shell-escape-always, c, escape (overrides QUOTING_STYLE environment variable) -r, --reverse reverse order while sorting -R, --recursive list subdirectories recursively -s, --size print the allocated size of each file, in blocks -S sort by file size, largest first --sort=WORD sort by WORD instead of name: none (-U), size (-S), time (-t), version (-v), extension (-X) --time=WORD with -l, show time as WORD instead of default modification time: atime or access or use (-u); ctime or status (-c); also use specified time as sort key if --sort=time (newest first) --time-style=TIME_STYLE time/date format with -l; see TIME_STYLE below -t sort by modification time, newest first -T, --tabsize=COLS assume tab stops at each COLS instead of 8 -u with -lt: sort by, and show, access time; with -l: show access time and sort by name; otherwise: sort by access time, newest first -U do not sort; list entries in directory order -v natural sort of (version) numbers within text -w, --width=COLS set output width to COLS. 0 means no limit -x list entries by lines instead of by columns -X sort alphabetically by entry extension -Z, --context print any security context of each file -1 list one file per line. Avoid '\n' with -q or -b --help display this help and exit --version output version information and exit The SIZE argument is an integer and optional unit (example: 10K is 10*1024). Units are K,M,G,T,P,E,Z,Y (powers of 1024) or KB,MB,... (powers of 1000). The TIME_STYLE argument can be full-iso, long-iso, iso, locale, or +FORMAT. FORMAT is interpreted like in date(1). If FORMAT is FORMAT1<newline>FORMAT2, then FORMAT1 applies to non-recent files and FORMAT2 to recent files. TIME_STYLE prefixed with 'posix-' takes effect only outside the POSIX locale. Also the TIME_STYLE environment variable sets the default style to use. Using color to distinguish file types is disabled both by default and with --color=never. With --color=auto, ls emits color codes only when standard output is connected to a terminal. The LS_COLORS environment variable can change the settings. Use the dircolors command to set it. Exit status: 0 if OK, 1 if minor problems (e.g., cannot access subdirectory), 2 if serious trouble (e.g., cannot access command-line argument). GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/> Full documentation at: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/ls> or available locally via: info '(coreutils) ls invocation' - Use the find command with either the -ls or -print option.
$ find recursive/ -ls 536809 4 drwxr-xr-x 4 user user 4096 Ogos 28 11:10 recursive/ 536810 4 drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Ogos 28 11:10 recursive/subdirectory-01 536812 0 -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Ogos 28 11:10 recursive/subdirectory-01/file-01 538821 0 -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Ogos 28 11:10 recursive/subdirectory-01/file-03 538820 0 -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Ogos 28 11:10 recursive/subdirectory-01/file-02 536811 4 drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Ogos 28 11:10 recursive/subdirectory-02 541987 0 -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Ogos 28 11:10 recursive/subdirectory-02/file-01 541989 0 -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Ogos 28 11:10 recursive/subdirectory-02/file-03 541988 0 -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 0 Ogos 28 11:10 recursive/subdirectory-02/file-02 $ find recursive/ -print recursive/ recursive/subdirectory-01 recursive/subdirectory-01/file-01 recursive/subdirectory-01/file-03 recursive/subdirectory-01/file-02 recursive/subdirectory-02 recursive/subdirectory-02/file-01 recursive/subdirectory-02/file-03 recursive/subdirectory-02/file-02
Other options for find:
$ find --help Usage: find [-H] [-L] [-P] [-Olevel] [-D debugopts] [path...] [expression] default path is the current directory; default expression is -print expression may consist of: operators, options, tests, and actions: operators (decreasing precedence; -and is implicit where no others are given): ( EXPR ) ! EXPR -not EXPR EXPR1 -a EXPR2 EXPR1 -and EXPR2 EXPR1 -o EXPR2 EXPR1 -or EXPR2 EXPR1 , EXPR2 positional options (always true): -daystart -follow -regextype normal options (always true, specified before other expressions): -depth --help -maxdepth LEVELS -mindepth LEVELS -mount -noleaf --version -xdev -ignore_readdir_race -noignore_readdir_race tests (N can be +N or -N or N): -amin N -anewer FILE -atime N -cmin N -cnewer FILE -ctime N -empty -false -fstype TYPE -gid N -group NAME -ilname PATTERN -iname PATTERN -inum N -iwholename PATTERN -iregex PATTERN -links N -lname PATTERN -mmin N -mtime N -name PATTERN -newer FILE -nouser -nogroup -path PATTERN -perm [-/]MODE -regex PATTERN -readable -writable -executable -wholename PATTERN -size N[bcwkMG] -true -type [bcdpflsD] -uid N -used N -user NAME -xtype [bcdpfls] -context CONTEXT actions: -delete -print0 -printf FORMAT -fprintf FILE FORMAT -print -fprint0 FILE -fprint FILE -ls -fls FILE -prune -quit -exec COMMAND ; -exec COMMAND {} + -ok COMMAND ; -execdir COMMAND ; -execdir COMMAND {} + -okdir COMMAND ; Valid arguments for -D: exec, opt, rates, search, stat, time, tree, all, help Use '-D help' for a description of the options, or see find(1) Please see also the documentation at http://www.gnu.org/software/findutils/. You can report (and track progress on fixing) bugs in the "find" program via the GNU findutils bug-reporting page at https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=findutils or, if you have no web access, by sending email to <bug-findutils@gnu.org>. - Use the du command with the -a switch to display files and directories.
$ du -a recursive/ 0 recursive/subdirectory-01/file-01 0 recursive/subdirectory-01/file-03 0 recursive/subdirectory-01/file-02 4 recursive/subdirectory-01 0 recursive/subdirectory-02/file-01 0 recursive/subdirectory-02/file-03 0 recursive/subdirectory-02/file-02 4 recursive/subdirectory-02 12 recursive/
Other options for du:
$ du --help Usage: du [OPTION]... [FILE]... or: du [OPTION]... --files0-from=F Summarize disk usage of the set of FILEs, recursively for directories. Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. -0, --null end each output line with NUL, not newline -a, --all write counts for all files, not just directories --apparent-size print apparent sizes, rather than disk usage; although the apparent size is usually smaller, it may be larger due to holes in ('sparse') files, internal fragmentation, indirect blocks, and the like -B, --block-size=SIZE scale sizes by SIZE before printing them; e.g., '-BM' prints sizes in units of 1,048,576 bytes; see SIZE format below -b, --bytes equivalent to '--apparent-size --block-size=1' -c, --total produce a grand total -D, --dereference-args dereference only symlinks that are listed on the command line -d, --max-depth=N print the total for a directory (or file, with --all) only if it is N or fewer levels below the command line argument; --max-depth=0 is the same as --summarize --files0-from=F summarize disk usage of the NUL-terminated file names specified in file F; if F is -, then read names from standard input -H equivalent to --dereference-args (-D) -h, --human-readable print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G) --inodes list inode usage information instead of block usage -k like --block-size=1K -L, --dereference dereference all symbolic links -l, --count-links count sizes many times if hard linked -m like --block-size=1M -P, --no-dereference don't follow any symbolic links (this is the default) -S, --separate-dirs for directories do not include size of subdirectories --si like -h, but use powers of 1000 not 1024 -s, --summarize display only a total for each argument -t, --threshold=SIZE exclude entries smaller than SIZE if positive, or entries greater than SIZE if negative --time show time of the last modification of any file in the directory, or any of its subdirectories --time=WORD show time as WORD instead of modification time: atime, access, use, ctime or status --time-style=STYLE show times using STYLE, which can be: full-iso, long-iso, iso, or +FORMAT; FORMAT is interpreted like in 'date' -X, --exclude-from=FILE exclude files that match any pattern in FILE --exclude=PATTERN exclude files that match PATTERN -x, --one-file-system skip directories on different file systems --help display this help and exit --version output version information and exit Display values are in units of the first available SIZE from --block-size, and the DU_BLOCK_SIZE, BLOCK_SIZE and BLOCKSIZE environment variables. Otherwise, units default to 1024 bytes (or 512 if POSIXLY_CORRECT is set). The SIZE argument is an integer and optional unit (example: 10K is 10*1024). Units are K,M,G,T,P,E,Z,Y (powers of 1024) or KB,MB,... (powers of 1000). GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/> Full documentation at: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/du> or available locally via: info '(coreutils) du invocation' - Use the tree program for a hierarchical view of files and folders.
$ tree recursive/ recursive/ ├── subdirectory-01 │ ├── file-01 │ ├── file-02 │ └── file-03 └── subdirectory-02 ├── file-01 ├── file-02 └── file-03 2 directories, 6 files $ tree -i -f recursive/ # (-f: full path, -i: no indentation) recursive recursive/subdirectory-01 recursive/subdirectory-01/file-01 recursive/subdirectory-01/file-02 recursive/subdirectory-01/file-03 recursive/subdirectory-02 recursive/subdirectory-02/file-01 recursive/subdirectory-02/file-02 recursive/subdirectory-02/file-03 2 directories, 6 filestree is normally not installed by default in most Linux distributions, and could be easily installed from the command line:
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt install --assume-yes tree # Ubuntu & Debian
Other options for tree:
$ tree --help usage: tree [-acdfghilnpqrstuvxACDFJQNSUX] [-H baseHREF] [-T title ] [-L level [-R]] [-P pattern] [-I pattern] [-o filename] [--version] [--help] [--inodes] [--device] [--noreport] [--nolinks] [--dirsfirst] [--charset charset] [--filelimit[=]#] [--si] [--timefmt[=]<f>] [--sort[=]<name>] [--matchdirs] [--ignore-case] [--fromfile] [--] [<directory list>] ------- Listing options ------- -a All files are listed. -d List directories only. -l Follow symbolic links like directories. -f Print the full path prefix for each file. -x Stay on current filesystem only. -L level Descend only level directories deep. -R Rerun tree when max dir level reached. -P pattern List only those files that match the pattern given. -I pattern Do not list files that match the given pattern. --ignore-case Ignore case when pattern matching. --matchdirs Include directory names in -P pattern matching. --noreport Turn off file/directory count at end of tree listing. --charset X Use charset X for terminal/HTML and indentation line output. --filelimit # Do not descend dirs with more than # files in them. --timefmt <f> Print and format time according to the format <f>. -o filename Output to file instead of stdout. ------- File options ------- -q Print non-printable characters as '?'. -N Print non-printable characters as is. -Q Quote filenames with double quotes. -p Print the protections for each file. -u Displays file owner or UID number. -g Displays file group owner or GID number. -s Print the size in bytes of each file. -h Print the size in a more human readable way. --si Like -h, but use in SI units (powers of 1000). -D Print the date of last modification or (-c) status change. -F Appends '/', '=', '*', '@', '|' or '>' as per ls -F. --inodes Print inode number of each file. --device Print device ID number to which each file belongs. ------- Sorting options ------- -v Sort files alphanumerically by version. -t Sort files by last modification time. -c Sort files by last status change time. -U Leave files unsorted. -r Reverse the order of the sort. --dirsfirst List directories before files (-U disables). --sort X Select sort: name,version,size,mtime,ctime. ------- Graphics options ------- -i Don't print indentation lines. -A Print ANSI lines graphic indentation lines. -S Print with CP437 (console) graphics indentation lines. -n Turn colorization off always (-C overrides). -C Turn colorization on always. ------- XML/HTML/JSON options ------- -X Prints out an XML representation of the tree. -J Prints out an JSON representation of the tree. -H baseHREF Prints out HTML format with baseHREF as top directory. -T string Replace the default HTML title and H1 header with string. --nolinks Turn off hyperlinks in HTML output. ------- Input options ------- --fromfile Reads paths from files (.=stdin) ------- Miscellaneous options ------- --version Print version and exit. --help Print usage and this help message and exit. -- Options processing terminator.
Author: Mohd
Shakir Zakaria
Mohd Shakir Zakaria is an experienced cloud architect with a strong development and open-source advocacy background. He boasts multiple certifications in AWS, Red Hat, VMware, ITIL, and Linux, underscoring his expertise in cloud architecture and system administration.
Mohd Shakir Zakaria is an experienced cloud architect with a strong development and open-source advocacy background. He boasts multiple certifications in AWS, Red Hat, VMware, ITIL, and Linux, underscoring his expertise in cloud architecture and system administration.
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