How do I change the color of directories?

Echo Kilo · 12-26-2007, 01:53 AM

How do I change the color that directories are displayed?

I'm using a black shell and the blue is hard to see.

I'm using Ubuntu.

btmiller · 12-26-2007, 02:08 AM

They are controlled by the $LS_COLORS environment variable, specifically the di entry therein. The dircolors command can provide an easy way to modify this env variable. Have a look at the dircolors and dir_colors man pages (the first one with no underscore describes the command and the second with the underscore describes the config file for it).

Echo Kilo · 12-26-2007, 02:54 AM

Thanks, I read thru those and have a slightly better understanding.

Using dircolors, I get:

LS_COLORS='no=00:fi=00:di=01;34 <snip>

and I'm guessing the di=01;34 is controlling the directory color. However, I'm not clear on how to use the dircolor command.

btmiller · 12-26-2007, 03:05 AM

Run

dircolors -p > ~/.dir_colors

to create a config file with the default settings in your home directory. Then edit this file to change the color scheme to how you want it and run:

eval `dircolors ~/.dir_colors`

You will probably want to put this in your shell startup script (usually .bashrc, assuming it gets sourced from .bash_profile).

Unfortunately, I can't find a site that lists all the different colors so you may need to experiment. I found this site which has some good information.

f5il · 12-26-2007, 03:07 AM

cd ~

vi .bashrc

uncomment the Ls Color

Echo Kilo · 12-28-2007, 12:40 AM

Thank you btmiller!