NAME
limo - LIst files with Many Options
SYNOPSIS
limo [ -o<ordering> ] [ -p<print style> ] [ -[wW]<display width> ] [
-c<compare file> ] [ -f<output format> ] [ -aAdhlRsv ] [ file ... ]
li [ -o<ordering> ] [ -p<print style> ] [ -[wW]<display width> ] [
-c<compare file> ] [ -f<output format> ] [ -aAdhlRsv ] [ file ... ]
DESCRIPTION
limo is a replacement for ls with some knobs on. By default, it is
installed as both limo and as li. It tries to give far more control
over the output format than ls and has simpler and more straightforward
(albeit more verbose) options.
It is probably most suited to system administrators who need to know
file attributes very precisely, and to script writers, who wish to
avoid parsing ls output. For those who need to extract the same
information in C programs, a list of the more interesting system and C
library calls used by limo is in the SEE ALSO section.
The options basically specify three aspects of the output:
Format of the output (-f)
Which "chunks" of information to output for each file
(default is just the filename).
Ordering of the output (-o)
(default is ordered ascending by filename).
Printing style (-p)
(default is ordered down columns and then across, like ls
).
OPTIONS
-f<format>
where format is either a string of any or all of the
following chunk characters, in any order, or a string in
a format reminiscent of print(), where chunk characters
are preceded by the ’%’ character, and everything else is
repeated verbatim, e.g. "Psn" and "%P %s %n" are
equivalent:
n the filename
N the filename with a character appended to
indicate the file type (/=directory, @=symbolic
link, |=pipe, &=char special, #=block special,
:=socket)
+ prefix to n or N; if a symbolic link, the name,
then -> then the target, otherwise just the
filename
Note that when using ’%’ syntax, you must do it like
this:
%+%n
not like this:
%+n
d short description of the type of the file, e.g.
"Dir" or "ChSp"
D long description of the type of the file, e.g.
"Directory" or "Character special"
b file size in blocks (whatever a block is for the
current filesystem)
s file size in bytes, in short (4-character) form
(b=bytes, K=kilobytes, M=megabytes, G=gigabytes)
S file size in bytes, in long form, or the major
and minor device nodes if a block- or character-
special device
p protection mode, 6 octal digits
P protection mode, long form (e.g. -rwxr-xr-x)
e effective permission (i.e. whichever one of the
above long permission triplets applies to the
current user); in the above example if the user
owned the file, would print "rwx" else would
print "r-x"
u UID of owner
U username of group, or UID of owner if none
g GID of owner
G group name of group, or GID of group if none
i inode number
l number of hard links
a time of last access, short (5-character) form; if
< 24 hours old, HH:MM; if < 12 months old, DDMMM;
if < 50 years, MMMYY; otherwise YYYY
A time of last access, long form; Day-DD-MMM-YYYY-
HH:MM:SS
m time of last modification, short form
M time of last modification, long form
c time of last change, short form
C time of last change, long form
= modify the next a, A, m, M, c or C chunk to show
the raw timestamp (i.e. the number of seconds
since the epoch) rather than a formatted
timestamp
- modify the next a, A, m, M, c or C chunk to show
the file age compared to the current system date
(or compare-file date if the -c option is used),
instead of the absolute timestamp
for amc, shows:
if < 60 minutes, MMmSS; for < 24 hours, HHhMM;
for < 100 days, DDdHH; else DDDd
for AMC, shows:
DDDd-HH:MM:SS
for a future timestamp:
the format is preceded by ’+’
mixing ’-’ and ’=’
will work, giving you the raw comparison in
seconds rather than the formatted version;
slightly confusingly, formatted versions are
prefixed with + if younger, or nothing if older,
whilst raw versions are prefixed with - if older,
nothing with younger
Note that when using ’%’ syntax, you must do it like
this:
%-%m
not like this:.
%-m
0123456789
custom command output (see the -e option)
-o<sort-chunks>
order output, select any or all of
+ sort the following chunks ascending (default)
- sort the following chunks descending
n filename (default)
b number of blocks
s number of bytes
d file type part of the file protection mode (that
is, directory, character special, normal file,
etc.)
p full file protection mode (probably silly)
u UID
U Username of owner
g GID
G Group name of group owner
i inode number
a time of last access
m time of last modification
c time of last change
For example, "-od-Un" orders ascending by file type, then
descending by owner name then file name. If you specify "-o+" or
"-o-" (that is, no sort chunks, just a direction), no ordering
is performed, files will be listed in the order they appear in
the directory.
Ordering is performed by qsort(3)
-p[ad,]
print style, one of:
a list across rows
d list down columns (default)
, list comma-separated
-a show all files, even those beginning with a "."
-A show all files, even those beginning with a ".", except
for "." and ".."
-c<compare-file>
use the appropriate timestamps of the compare-file
instead of the current system time when displaying file
ages
-d for directories, show their information rather than their
contents
-e<line:word:command>
specify a command to extract custom information about a
file; limo will capture the command’s output, and use the
given word on the given line (stripped of whitespace)
with word 0 taken to mean the whole line; the first -e
option may be accessed using the 0 (zero) chunk, and
subsequent ones with 1, 2, 3, up to 9
Example:
limo -e "1:1:wc -l" -f P0n
will list each file with its permissions and line count, and
limo -e "1:0:file -b" -f 0sn will show the file’s content type,
size and name.
If you need the filename supplied to the command anywhere other
than at the end, place "%s" in the command. If you don’t quote
the %s with single quotes, limo will do it for you. If the
command returns a non-zero exit status (for example, wc on a
directory), you’ll only get "-". Be aware that this option
carries a heavy performance penalty.
-h show usage information and list of available chunks
-l approximate the behaviour of "ls -l" by setting "-f
PlUGSm+n" (or whatever is in LIMO_FORMAT_L; see
ENVIRONMENT)
-q display unprintable characters in filenames as ’?’
-R recursively list subdirectories
-r recursively list subdirectories, but do not traverse
filesystems
-s approximate the behaviour of "ls -s" by setting "-f sn"
(or whatever is in LIMO_FORMAT_S; see ENVIRONMENT)
-S<character>
set the default chunk separator character (default is a
space)
-v verbose mode; explain a few things along the way
-w<width>
assume a display width of width this overrides the
default determination of the screen width, which is (1)
whatever ioctl(1, TIOCGWINSZ) says; (2) whatever the
COLUMNS environment variable says; finally (3) 80
-W<columns>
force output to be in the given number of columns,
regardless of screen width
-/ display full pathnames of files
ENVIRONMENT
LIMO_FORMAT
the default output format, overridden by -f
LIMO_FORMAT_L
output format used with the -l switch
LIMO_FORMAT
the default output format, overridden by -f
LIMO_ORDER
the default output order, overridden by -o
LIMO_STYLE
the default printing style, overridden by -p
COLUMNS
column width to use for output, if attempts to find it
fail (default 80)
BUGS
The behavior of limo reflects the preferences of the author. For the
most part it emulates the general behaviour of ls but departs from it
in some respects:
columns
output is identical whether writing to a terminal or
other file (by default ls turns multi-column output off
when not writing to a terminal)
colour limo does not support ANSI colouring of files based on
their type; the author hates that (but is slowly being
argued into implementing it anyway)
-q character quoting is simplistic, and assumes
ASCII/ISO8859
custom commands (-e)
option is bordering on the baroque, and puts limo one
step away from being able to read mail
SEE ALSO
ls(1); chdir(2); ioctl(2); lstat(2); readlink(2); fork(2); pipe(2);
execv(3); qsort(3); strftime(3)
AUTHOR
Fraser McCrossan <joat@joat.ca>
$Date: 2000/01/24 00:37:32 $ LIMO(1)