In Linux, the ls command is one of the fundamental tools. It lists files and directories with or without various additional information. The ls command is a part of the GNU core utility package. It should be available on any Linux distro.

This guide will showcase how to use the ls command, specifically “ls -l” in combination with other options.

Linux ls command

The ls command takes the location of a directory and prints all the files and directories within the location. It can also print additional file information like file permissions, file ownership, file size, etc.

Command structure

This is the command structure that all ls commands must follow.

If no directory is specified, then ls performs its action on the current directory. For example, the following command will list all the files and directories (name only).