Re: [coreutils] ls manpage

[Bob Proulx]

Jan Girke wrote:
> can somebody deposit that info in the man page for ls
> {
> ls
> dir
> List the content of the current directory. The command dir is an alias
> to ls so this two commands do exactly the same thing.

But dir isn't the same thing as ls.  Saying that it is the same thing
is incorrect.  However it may be an alias in some environments outside
the control of coreutils.  Probably in your ~/.bashrc file but
possibly elsehwere.

  $ type dir
  dir is /bin/dir

The info documentation says:

  $ info coreutils 'dir invocation'

  `dir' is equivalent to `ls -C -b'; that is, by default files are listed
  in columns, sorted vertically, and special characters are represented
  by backslash escape sequences.

> The file listing is normally color-coded: dark blue= directories,
> light grey = regular files, green = executable files, magenta =
> graphics files, red = compressed (zipped) files, light blue =
> symolic links, yellow = device files, brown = FIFO ("First-In
> First-Out" named pipes).

Of course that depends upon dircolors.  I think your real question is,
"Where are the colors documented?"  I don't use color output so I will
leave that to someone else to answer.

> sources:http://wwww.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4631782 >

That thread was posted on April 1st, the traditional April Fool's Day!
:-)  So it is fitting that it is leading people astray.

  $ info coreutils 'dircolors invocation'

  $ dircolors --print-database

And you can set up your own custom colors.

> http://www.isid.ac.in/~statmath/resources/linux/Linux_commands.htm

That reference may be correct on a different platform.  But it is
incorrect with respect to the GNU coreutils dir command.  Better to
read the fine documentation included with the command.

Bob