To list the contents of a directory use the ls command. The
ls command issued alone, without specifying a directory,
causes a listing of all subdirectories and non-hidden files in
the current working directory to be displayed. By default files are listed in
alphabetic order in a series of columns across the screen.
Alternative ways of displaying directory contents can
be specified by using command-line arguments to the ls
command. One reason
for providing arguments is that the default listing does not
distinguish between subdirectories text files and other special files. To do this, use
the -F option of the ls command:
ls -F
The resulting list of files denotes subdirectories with a trailing slash
(`/') character, executable programs with a trailing asterisk (`*'),
symbolic links with a trailing at-sign (`@'), and sockets with a trailing
equals sign (`=').
Hidden files, files beginning with a '.', are still not displayed;
use the -a argument (for list all files) if you wish to list
hidden files as well. To obtain specific information about files
and directories, such as mode, size in bytes and time of last modification,
use the -l argument with the ls command.
All of the various arguments available for use with any UNIX
command can be combined into one character string for all
arguments to take effect simultaneously, ie: ls -alFC
Full descriptions for all of the ls flags and options can be found under man ls.
The following aliases
are available to make the ls command more friendly:
Pattern matching can be applied to ls, as well as to any other UNIX
command. For example, if you wished to list only files that end with
the '.c' extension:
ls [-options] *.c
The asterisk 'wildcard' character specifies all filenames.
To look for all files with the same name but different extensions,
do a listing for <filename>.*.
Listing can be done on directories other than the current one by
specifying a path to the directory after the listing options:
ls [-options] 
/backup/*.c
This command would give a listing of all files with a .c extension in
the subdirectory backup off of your home directory. For more information
on Wild Cards see the C Shell Interface section on Wild Cards.