need clarification on the command ls -dF

anniehswong · 09-09-2017, 07:29 PM

Sorry if this is a silly question but I'm really new at this

ls -d [[:upper:]]*

I know the command above will list all the directories that start with an uppercase but what does but what does ls -dF [[:upper:]]* mean?

I looked it up but the explanation makes no sense to me.. it mentioned something about appending?

Ztcoracat · 09-09-2017, 08:00 PM

I've never used that cmd before so I'm not sure.

After running it in my terminal it returned this:

Code:

└─ $ ▶ ls -dF
./

Most of the time the ./ is the character that you would type for a script to run. An example would be....

Code:

./name of script

Otherwise the ./ is used with the ./configure command to compile software from a tar bz.

Is there a text file that you wanted to append?

I didn't find any man page for dF only df-

https://www.systutorials.com/docs/linux/man/1-df/

frankbell · 09-09-2017, 08:39 PM

From man ls:

Code:

-d, --directory
list directories themselves, not their contents

(snip)

-F, --classify
append indicator (one of */=>@|) to entries

I played with the command a bit. Those two switches do not seem to work and play well together, but I did not take the time to do extensive testing.

syg00 · 09-09-2017, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anniehswong

ls -d [[:upper:]]*

I know the command above will list all the directories that start with an uppercase

Be careful presuming what you think you know - it will do that, but run this then rerun the your command.

Code:

touch Afile.txt

Quote:

but what does but what does ls -dF [[:upper:]]* mean?

I looked it up but the explanation makes no sense to me.. it mentioned something about appending?

Run both with and without the "F" - with the extra file from my command above it may be more obvious. A simple google returned this as first hit; it explains the symbols, no sense me repeating it.

syg00 · 09-09-2017, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anniehswong

ls -d [[:upper:]]*

I know the command above will list all the directories that start with an uppercase

Be careful presuming what you think you know - it will do that, but run this then rerun the your command.

Code:

touch Afile.txt

Quote:

but what does but what does ls -dF [[:upper:]]* mean?

I looked it up but the explanation makes no sense to me.. it mentioned something about appending?

Run both with and without the "F" - with the extra file from my command above it may be more obvious. A simple google returned this as first hit; it explains the symbols, no sense me repeating it.

frankbell · 09-09-2017, 09:41 PM

Thanks, syg00.

!!! · 09-11-2017, 01:59 PM

Welcome to LQ!!!

I think the confusion is: that -d does not limit ls to directories;
It just doesn't descend ('look') into dirs, so I think of -d as meaning:
Don't Descend (instead of Directories).

The -F is a seperate concept: a 1char graphic, to show some type info:
https://unix.stackexchange.com/quest...d-by-ls-f-mean

Your [[:upper:]] impressed me!!!
I didn't know of it; it even worked in my busybox ash

I'm looking forward to more interesting posts from you.
Glad you are here!!!

p.s. regex will provide fascinating 'twists': I just realized: grep "a*c"
Matches on just c (reads from stdin, until Ctrl+d; try it

)
And: mkdir abc; ls a*c gives no output, but: ls | grep 'b*c' finds it

Add (in bash; the {} don't work in my mll ash

): touch abc/{,.}z
Then experiment with various combos of: ls -aAdFl

Also note: BB code link at bottom of page, which CODE tag I was too lazy to use

chrism01 · 09-11-2017, 11:20 PM

FYI "shell globbing" works a little differently to 'regex-ing'; see $search_engine for details

For regexes I highly recommend http://regex.info/book.html, which goes into some depth explaining how not all regex "engines" work the same way.