How to make `ls` color its output by default, without setting up an alias?

up vote
35
down vote

favorite

I don't want an alias (alias ls='ls --color'), and I had previously set this up on Mac OSX using CLICOLOR environment variable which magically brought colors to ls. Now I am on Linux (Arch x86-64) with xterm and a really basic setup, and I can't make ls output color (using ls verbatim). I do get color when using --color switch.

Is there no way to achieve this? POSIX compliance would be nice :-)

asked Oct 25 '13 at 12:46

amn

64231833

add a comment |

up vote
35
down vote

favorite

Is there no way to achieve this? POSIX compliance would be nice :-)

asked Oct 25 '13 at 12:46

amn

64231833

add a comment |

up vote
35
down vote

favorite

Is there no way to achieve this? POSIX compliance would be nice :-)

asked Oct 25 '13 at 12:46

amn

64231833

Is there no way to achieve this? POSIX compliance would be nice :-)

linux ls xterm

asked Oct 25 '13 at 12:46

amn

64231833

asked Oct 25 '13 at 12:46

amn

64231833

asked Oct 25 '13 at 12:46

amn

64231833

asked Oct 25 '13 at 12:46

amn

64231833

asked Oct 25 '13 at 12:46

amn

64231833

add a comment |

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

up vote
52
down vote

accepted

There is no way: the ls man page will show you that the default setting (for --color) is 'none' - ie. never use colour.

Any reason you don't want to use aliases? I'm a recovering Red Hat user, so every time I install a new distribution I set three ls aliases like so:

## Colorize the ls output ##

alias ls='ls --color=auto'



## Use a long listing format ##

alias ll='ls -la'



## Show hidden files ##

alias l.='ls -d .* --color=auto'

answered Oct 25 '13 at 13:03

pdah

70664

2

No reason I cannot - I was on Mac OSX the other day, and it supported the CLICOLOR which I thought was kind of standard (you always tend to think that these things are standard). And I also always thought of aliases as more of an retrofit solution. But they'll do just fine :-)
– amn
Oct 28 '13 at 10:25

11

On Mac OSX you can use alias ls='ls -G'
– Gal Bracha
Aug 6 '17 at 13:44

1

also add alias grep='grep --color' to it ;)
– TechJS
Jul 7 at 4:46

add a comment |

up vote
-2
down vote

if using the -F option --color is unnecessary, for instance alias ll='ls -alF' shows colors

answered Nov 24 at 23:21

Mark

New contributor

1

This is incorrect.
– Scott
Nov 24 at 23:49

add a comment |

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "3"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});

}
});

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f665274%2fhow-to-make-ls-color-its-output-by-default-without-setting-up-an-alias%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

up vote
52
down vote

accepted

There is no way: the ls man page will show you that the default setting (for --color) is 'none' - ie. never use colour.

Any reason you don't want to use aliases? I'm a recovering Red Hat user, so every time I install a new distribution I set three ls aliases like so:

## Colorize the ls output ##

alias ls='ls --color=auto'



## Use a long listing format ##

alias ll='ls -la'



## Show hidden files ##

alias l.='ls -d .* --color=auto'

answered Oct 25 '13 at 13:03

pdah

70664

2

No reason I cannot - I was on Mac OSX the other day, and it supported the CLICOLOR which I thought was kind of standard (you always tend to think that these things are standard). And I also always thought of aliases as more of an retrofit solution. But they'll do just fine :-)
– amn
Oct 28 '13 at 10:25

11

On Mac OSX you can use alias ls='ls -G'
– Gal Bracha
Aug 6 '17 at 13:44

1

also add alias grep='grep --color' to it ;)
– TechJS
Jul 7 at 4:46

add a comment |

up vote
52
down vote

accepted

There is no way: the ls man page will show you that the default setting (for --color) is 'none' - ie. never use colour.

Any reason you don't want to use aliases? I'm a recovering Red Hat user, so every time I install a new distribution I set three ls aliases like so:

## Colorize the ls output ##

alias ls='ls --color=auto'



## Use a long listing format ##

alias ll='ls -la'



## Show hidden files ##

alias l.='ls -d .* --color=auto'

answered Oct 25 '13 at 13:03

pdah

70664

2

No reason I cannot - I was on Mac OSX the other day, and it supported the CLICOLOR which I thought was kind of standard (you always tend to think that these things are standard). And I also always thought of aliases as more of an retrofit solution. But they'll do just fine :-)
– amn
Oct 28 '13 at 10:25

11

On Mac OSX you can use alias ls='ls -G'
– Gal Bracha
Aug 6 '17 at 13:44

1

also add alias grep='grep --color' to it ;)
– TechJS
Jul 7 at 4:46

add a comment |

up vote
52
down vote

accepted

There is no way: the ls man page will show you that the default setting (for --color) is 'none' - ie. never use colour.

Any reason you don't want to use aliases? I'm a recovering Red Hat user, so every time I install a new distribution I set three ls aliases like so:

## Colorize the ls output ##

alias ls='ls --color=auto'



## Use a long listing format ##

alias ll='ls -la'



## Show hidden files ##

alias l.='ls -d .* --color=auto'

answered Oct 25 '13 at 13:03

pdah

70664

There is no way: the ls man page will show you that the default setting (for --color) is 'none' - ie. never use colour.

Any reason you don't want to use aliases? I'm a recovering Red Hat user, so every time I install a new distribution I set three ls aliases like so:

## Colorize the ls output ##

alias ls='ls --color=auto'



## Use a long listing format ##

alias ll='ls -la'



## Show hidden files ##

alias l.='ls -d .* --color=auto'

answered Oct 25 '13 at 13:03

pdah

70664

answered Oct 25 '13 at 13:03

pdah

70664

answered Oct 25 '13 at 13:03

pdah

70664

answered Oct 25 '13 at 13:03

pdah

70664

2

No reason I cannot - I was on Mac OSX the other day, and it supported the CLICOLOR which I thought was kind of standard (you always tend to think that these things are standard). And I also always thought of aliases as more of an retrofit solution. But they'll do just fine :-)
– amn
Oct 28 '13 at 10:25

11

On Mac OSX you can use alias ls='ls -G'
– Gal Bracha
Aug 6 '17 at 13:44

1

also add alias grep='grep --color' to it ;)
– TechJS
Jul 7 at 4:46

add a comment |

2

No reason I cannot - I was on Mac OSX the other day, and it supported the CLICOLOR which I thought was kind of standard (you always tend to think that these things are standard). And I also always thought of aliases as more of an retrofit solution. But they'll do just fine :-)
– amn
Oct 28 '13 at 10:25

11

On Mac OSX you can use alias ls='ls -G'
– Gal Bracha
Aug 6 '17 at 13:44

1

also add alias grep='grep --color' to it ;)
– TechJS
Jul 7 at 4:46

No reason I cannot - I was on Mac OSX the other day, and it supported the CLICOLOR which I thought was kind of standard (you always tend to think that these things are standard). And I also always thought of aliases as more of an retrofit solution. But they'll do just fine :-)
– amn
Oct 28 '13 at 10:25

On Mac OSX you can use alias ls='ls -G'
– Gal Bracha
Aug 6 '17 at 13:44

also add alias grep='grep --color' to it ;)
– TechJS
Jul 7 at 4:46

add a comment |

up vote
-2
down vote

if using the -F option --color is unnecessary, for instance alias ll='ls -alF' shows colors

answered Nov 24 at 23:21

Mark

New contributor

1

This is incorrect.
– Scott
Nov 24 at 23:49

add a comment |

up vote
-2
down vote

if using the -F option --color is unnecessary, for instance alias ll='ls -alF' shows colors

answered Nov 24 at 23:21

Mark

New contributor

1

This is incorrect.
– Scott
Nov 24 at 23:49

add a comment |

up vote
-2
down vote

if using the -F option --color is unnecessary, for instance alias ll='ls -alF' shows colors

answered Nov 24 at 23:21

Mark

New contributor

if using the -F option --color is unnecessary, for instance alias ll='ls -alF' shows colors

answered Nov 24 at 23:21

Mark

New contributor

answered Nov 24 at 23:21

Mark

New contributor

answered Nov 24 at 23:21

Mark

answered Nov 24 at 23:21

Mark

New contributor

Mark is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

1

This is incorrect.
– Scott
Nov 24 at 23:49

add a comment |

1

This is incorrect.
– Scott
Nov 24 at 23:49

This is incorrect.
– Scott
Nov 24 at 23:49

add a comment |

draft saved

draft discarded

Thanks for contributing an answer to Super User!

Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid …

Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.

Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.

Please pay close attention to the following guidance:

Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid …

Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Name

Required, but never shown

Name

Required, but never shown

This page is only for reference, If you need detailed information, please check here

搜尋此網誌

Bdtyktl