LS: unix command for listing files and directories

ls is a command to list files and directories in Unix and unix like systems.

if it is invoked without any arguments then will list files and folders in current working directory in bare format. In this bare format its difficult to distinguish files and folders and other parameters.

FORMAT: ls [Options] [Filename]

Following are the most common options to be used with "ls".

-a :  Include all files even which are starting with "."(Hidden files in Unix ), by default they are ignored.

-l  : Long format, lists permissions in unix format, size, owner , date modified etc.

-F : Appends a character to reveal the type of file e.g. * for executables '/' for directory
-R : list recursively all the directories and files

-d : list directories instead of content

-t : sort by modification time

-h : Print size in human readable format like 1M, 4G ( Use with -l)

Example: 

For listing files and directories with their parameters like size permissions and all.

> ls -l 

For listing in as ls -l along with size in human readable format..

>ls -h -l

Note: ls can also be used in windows environment with cygwin installation.