Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2008-05-23 06:14:15 - Graham Ellis
The ls command has so many options that it's confusing. Here are my personal favourite selection:
How to display the information
A long listing with ownerships, sizes, dates and permissions - ls -l
Names, with * / and @ to indicate executable, directory and link - ls -F
Which information to display
Information about directories not their content - ls -d
Include hidden files and directories - ls -a
The order in which it is displayed
Sorted by modification time - ls -t
Reverse the order - ls -r
Options in combination ... ls -lart
Full information, including hidden files - with the latest files that were change last.