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dir Command Examples and Syntax

When working on the command line, you are always inside a directory. If you want to list the contents of a directory, you need to use the dir command or ls command. The dir differs from ls in the format of listing contents that is in default listing options. By default, dir command lists the files and folders in columns, sorted vertically and special characters are represented by backslash escape sequences.

Dir Command Description

List information about the FILEs (the current directory by default). Sort entries alphabetically if none of -cftuvSUX nor –sort is speci‐ fied.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options
too.

Name: dir – list directory contents

Syntax and Options

Synopsis: dir [OPTION]… [FILE]…

If you are new with Linux command line, we suggest you to test the command examples on a Virtual machine instead of testing by your own computer. You might accidently delete some files or break down your computer OS.

   -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 informa‐
          tion  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

Examples

The basic usage is simple as executing the dir and the output produced may be sufficient in most cases.

dir
Linux Dir Command Examples
Linux Dir Command Examples

List hidden files with dir command

In case you want to list the hidden files and directories, use the -a command line option.

dir -a
List Hidden Files in Linux

The capital -A command line option will not list implied . and ..

Differentiate between files and directories

dir -F
Differentiate directory and file
Differentiate directory and file
dir -L 
Print out detailed information Linux command
Print out detailed information Linux command

More examples:

List detailed information and display the size of directories and fires as human readable format.

dir -lh 

Sort output by size of file

dir -S

Reverse and recursively sorted output

dir -rR

For more information, check out the man page of dir command in your terminal using “man dir” command.

SEE ALSO
Full documentation at: https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/dir
or available locally via: info ‘(coreutils) dir invocation’

This is just an essential guide to dir in all Linux operating system which is working the same in Windows operating system. To learn more and get expert in Linux command line, check command line section and search the name of command you are looking.

Updated on September 8, 2021

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