LinuxQuestions.org - ls colors messing up pipes

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ls colors messing up pipes

When I try to do anything involving the command `ls`; I get weird escape sequences that I an guessing refer to the colors, because --color=no gets rid of them.

For example, ls / | less gives me this:

Code:

ESC[00mESC[01;34mbinESC[00m/

ESC[01;34mbootESC[00m/

ESC[01;34mdevESC[00m/

ESC[01;34metcESC[00m/

ESC[01;34mhomeESC[00m/

ESC[01;34mlibESC[00m/

ESC[01;34mlost+foundESC[00m/

ESC[01;34mmntESC[00m/

ESC[01;34moptESC[00m/

ESC[01;34mprocESC[00m/

ESC[01;34mrootESC[00m/

ESC[01;34msbinESC[00m/

ESC[01;34msysESC[00m/

ESC[01;34mtmpESC[00m/

ESC[01;34musrESC[00m/

ESC[01;34mvarESC[00m/

ESC[m

How can I fix that? I've never had this happen to me before.

You should use "--color=auto" in any aliases for ls. That way you get color when the output is going directly to a terminal, but not when it's going into a file or pipe.