#Bash

In the article we will look at different ways of sorting results of the ls (– list directory content) command.

In all example, use the -l flag in addition to the sort flag to retrieve a long description of files and verify your results.

Sort by name

This is the default:

Mac-Book-Pro:_posts username$ ls -l
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  2290 Dec  6 09:08 Add-Disqus-comments-in-Hexo.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  2066 Dec  6 09:09 Add-Google-Analytics-to-your-hexo-blog.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff   952 Dec  9 21:08 Add-an-RSS-feed-to-your-hexo-blog.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  4597 Dec 11 13:32 Build-and-package-your-client-side-code-using-npm.md
[...]

Sort by file size

To sort by file size, use

-S      Sort files by size

Example

Mac-Book-Pro:_posts username$ ls -Sl
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  8337 Dec 23 16:41 Build-your-first-React-application.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  4597 Dec 11 13:32 Build-and-package-your-client-side-code-using-npm.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  4506 Dec  6 09:14 Getting-started-with-Gulp-and-static-websites.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  4317 Dec  6 09:14 Refresh-webpages-automatically-during-development-using-Gulp.md
[...]

Sort by modification date

To sort by modification date, use

-t      Sort by time modified (most recently modified first) 
        before sorting the operands by lexicographical order.

Example

Mac-Book-Pro:_posts username$ ls -tl
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  1634 Jan  4 17:55 Sorting-files-using-the-ls-command.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  2519 Dec 31 18:06 Code-snippets-in-Webstorm.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  4083 Dec 29 12:32 Loops-and-callbacks-in-React.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  3957 Dec 28 17:23 Easy-dynamic-classes-with-React.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  1418 Dec 24 10:13 Passing-arguments-to-the-underlying-command-in-npm-scripts.md
[...]

Sort by last time of access

To sort by last time of access, use -u combined with the -t flag (to sort by date):

-u      Use time of last access, instead of last modification 
        of the file for sorting (-t) or long printing (-l).

Example

Mac-Book-Pro:_posts username$ ls -tlu
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  2188 Jan  4 17:58 Sorting-files-using-the-ls-command.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  2290 Dec 31 18:07 Add-Disqus-comments-in-Hexo.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  2066 Dec 31 18:07 Add-Google-Analytics-to-your-hexo-blog.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff   952 Dec 31 18:07 Add-an-RSS-feed-to-your-hexo-blog.md
[...]

Sort by creation date

To sort by creation date, use -U combined with the -t flag (to sort by date):

-U      Use time of file creation, instead of last modification 
        for sorting (-t) or long output (-l).

Example

Mac-Book-Pro:_posts username$ ls -tlU
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  3032 Jan  4 18:04 Sorting-files-using-the-ls-command.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  2519 Dec 31 18:06 Code-snippets-in-Webstorm.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  4083 Dec 29 12:32 Loops-and-callbacks-in-React.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  3957 Dec 28 17:23 Easy-dynamic-classes-with-React.md
[...]

Reverse order

To reverse the order of any of the sort above, add the -r flag:

-r      Reverse the order of the sort to get reverse lexicographical 
        order or the oldest entries first (or largest files last, if combined with sort by size

Example (sort by creation date starting with the oldest first)

Mac-Book-Pro:_posts username$ ls -tlrU
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  2290 Dec  6 09:08 Add-Disqus-comments-in-Hexo.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  2066 Dec  6 09:09 Add-Google-Analytics-to-your-hexo-blog.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  1428 Dec  6 09:13 round-images-in-css.md
-rw-r--r--  1 klugjo  staff  4317 Dec  6 09:14 Refresh-webpages-automatically-during-development-using-Gulp.md
[...]

Happy sorting !

#Bash