The dir command is often considered to be the Windows equivalent but it works in Linux in pretty much the same way.
In this guide, I will show you how to use the dir command in Linux and introduce you to the key switches which can be used to get the most out of it.
Dir Command Syntax
The general syntax of the dir command is as follows:
# dir [OPTION] [FILE]
Example output dir command
To get a list of all the files and folders in the current directory use the dir command as follows:
rasho@Gandalf / $ dir 0 cdrom home lib lost+found opt run sys var bin dev initrd.img lib32 media proc sbin tmp vmlinuz boot etc initrd.img.old lib64 mnt root srv usr vmlinuz.old
A list of files and folders will appear in a column format.
How To Show Hidden Files Using The Dir Command
By default, the dir command only shows normal files and folders. In Linux you can hide a file by making the first character a full stop.
To show hidden files using the dir command use the -a or -all switch:
Example:
rasho@Gandalf / $ dir -a . Music .. .nano .bash_history .nv .bash_logout Pictures .bashrc .pki .cache .profile .cinnamon Public .config .purple .ssh .thumbnails .dbus Templates Desktop .themes
You can include the -l option to format output as a list.
rasho@Gandalf / $ dir -al total 550676 drwxr-xr-x 40 rasho rasho 4096 Mar 5 08:23 . drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Dec 28 21:00 .. -rw------- 1 rasho rasho 10967 Mar 4 20:28 .bash_history -rw-r--r-- 1 rasho rasho 220 Dec 28 21:00 .bash_logout -rw-r--r-- 1 rasho rasho 4000 Dec 28 21:00 .bashrc drwx------ 16 rasho rasho 4096 Mar 4 19:13 .cache drwxr-xr-x 5 rasho rasho 4096 Mar 5 08:23 .cinnamon drwxr-xr-x 31 rasho rasho 4096 Mar 4 16:49 .config drwx------ 3 rasho rasho 4096 Dec 28 21:10 .dbus drwxr-xr-x 7 rasho rasho 4096 Mar 5 13:28 Desktop -rw------- 1 rasho rasho 29 Mar 5 08:23 .dmrc -rw------- 1 rasho rasho 29 Feb 5 20:57 .dmrc.ARU4UY
Display the author of a file
You can as well view the author of a file by using the –author flag as follows.
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rasho@Gandalf / $ dir -al --author /home/rasho total 550680 drwxr-xr-x 40 rasho rasho rasho 4096 Mar 5 08:23 . drwxr-xr-x 4 root root root 4096 Dec 28 21:00 .. -rw------- 1 rasho rasho rasho 10967 Mar 4 20:28 .bash_history -rw-r--r-- 1 rasho rasho rasho 220 Dec 28 21:00 .bash_logout -rw-r--r-- 1 rasho rasho rasho 4000 Dec 28 21:00 .bashrc drwx------ 16 rasho rasho rasho 4096 Mar 4 19:13 .cache drwxr-xr-x 5 rasho rasho rasho 4096 Mar 5 08:23 .cinnamon drwxr-xr-x 31 rasho rasho rasho 4096 Mar 4 16:49 .config drwx------ 3 rasho rasho rasho 4096 Dec 28 21:10 .dbus drwxr-xr-x 7 rasho rasho rasho 4096 Mar 5 13:28 Desktop -rw------- 1 rasho rasho rasho 29 Mar 5 08:23 .dmrc -rw------- 1 rasho rasho rasho 29 Feb 5 20:57 .dmrc.ARU4UY drwxr-xr-x 7 rasho rasho rasho 4096 Feb 22 23:47 Documents
View entries separated by commas
This can be archived by using -m option.
rasho@Gandalf / $ dir -am / ., .., 0, bin, boot, cdrom, dev, etc, home, initrd.img, initrd.img.old, lib, lib32, lib64, lost+found, media, mnt, opt, proc, root, run, sbin, srv, sys, tmp, usr, var, vmlinuz, vmlinuz.old
View human readable file sizes
To see the file size in a human readable format use -h
rasho@Gandalf / $ dir -l -h
total 538M
drwxr-xr-x 7 rasho rasho 4,0K Mar 5 13:28 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 7 rasho rasho 4,0K Feb 22 23:47 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 21 rasho rasho 36K Mar 5 13:23 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x 2 rasho rasho 4,0K Dec 28 21:10 Music
drwxr-xr-x 8 rasho rasho 4,0K Feb 24 22:46 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x 2 rasho rasho 4,0K Dec 28 21:10 Public
drwxr-xr-x 2 rasho rasho 4,0K Dec 28 21:10 Templates
drwxr-xr-x 2 rasho rasho 4,0K Jan 30 23:49 Videos
drwxr-xr-x 3 rasho rasho 4,0K Feb 12 18:09 VirtualBox\ VMs
-rw-r--r-- 1 rasho rasho 14M Nov 22 11:59 wkhtmltox-0.12.4_linux-generic-amd64.tar.xz
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The -l is required to turn the display into a listing.
List directories first
If you want the directories to be shown first and the files afterwards use --group-directories-first switch:
rasho@Gandalf / $ dir -l --group-directories-first total 550472 drwxr-xr-x 7 rasho rasho 4096 Mar 5 13:28 Desktop drwxr-xr-x 7 rasho rasho 4096 Feb 22 23:47 Documents drwxr-xr-x 21 rasho rasho 36864 Mar 5 13:23 Downloads drwxr-xr-x 2 rasho rasho 4096 Dec 28 21:10 Music drwxr-xr-x 8 rasho rasho 4096 Feb 24 22:46 Pictures drwxr-xr-x 2 rasho rasho 4096 Dec 28 21:10 Public drwxr-xr-x 2 rasho rasho 4096 Dec 28 21:10 Templates drwxr-xr-x 2 rasho rasho 4096 Jan 30 23:49 Videos drwxr-xr-x 3 rasho rasho 4096 Feb 12 18:09 VirtualBox\ VMs drwxr-xr-x 2 rasho rasho 4096 Feb 16 15:27 work
The -l switch is required to turn the display into a listing.
You can also view subdirectories recursively, meaning that you can list all other subdirectories in a directory using the -R switch as follows.
rasho@Gandalf / $ dir -R .: backups cache lib local lock log mail opt run spool tmp ./backups: alternatives.tar.0 dpkg.arch.0 dpkg.statoverride.2.gz alternatives.tar.1.gz dpkg.arch.1.gz dpkg.statoverride.3.gz alternatives.tar.2.gz dpkg.arch.2.gz dpkg.statoverride.4.gz ./cache: app-info cracklib dictionaries-common ldconfig pm-utils apt cups fontconfig libvirt samba apt-xapian-index debconf fwupdate man ./cache/app-info: xmls ./cache/app-info/xmls: ./cache/apt: archives pkgcache.bin srcpkgcache.bin
Reversing The Order
You can reverse the order in which the files and folders are listed by using the following command:
$ dir -r
Summary
The dir command is very similar to the ls command. It is probably worth learning about the ls command as this is the more commonly available program although most systems include dir as well.
How can I use the DIR command, but skip over sub-directories?