dir_colors - configuration file for dircolors(1)
The program
ls(1) uses the environment variable
LS_COLORS to
determine the colors in which the filenames are to be displayed. This
environment variable is usually set by a command like
eval `dircolors some_path/dir_colors`
found in a system default shell initialization file, like
/etc/profile or
/etc/csh.cshrc. (See also
dircolors(1).) Usually, the file used
here is
/etc/DIR_COLORS and can be overridden by a
.dir_colors
file in one's home directory.
This configuration file consists of several statements, one per line. Anything
right of a hash mark (#) is treated as a comment, if the hash mark is at the
beginning of a line or is preceded by at least one whitespace. Blank lines are
ignored.
The
global section of the file consists of any statement before the first
TERM statement. Any statement in the global section of the file is
considered valid for all terminal types. Following the global section is one
or more
terminal-specific sections, preceded by one or more
TERM
statements which specify the terminal types (as given by the
TERM
environment variable) the following declarations apply to. It is always
possible to override a global declaration by a subsequent terminal-specific
one.
The following statements are recognized; case is insignificant:
- TERM terminal-type
- Starts a terminal-specific section and specifies which terminal it applies
to. Multiple TERM statements can be used to create a section which
applies for several terminal types.
- COLOR yes|all|no|none|tty
- (Slackware only; ignored by GNU dircolors(1).) Specifies that
colorization should always be enabled ( yes or all), never
enabled ( no or none), or enabled only if the output is a
terminal ( tty). The default is no.
- EIGHTBIT yes|no
- (Slackware only; ignored by GNU dircolors(1).) Specifies that
eight-bit ISO 8859 characters should be enabled by default. For
compatibility reasons, this can also be specified as 1 for yes or 0
for no. The default is no.
- OPTIONS options
- (Slackware only; ignored by GNU dircolors(1).) Adds command-line
options to the default ls command line. The options can be any
valid ls command-line options, and should include the leading minus
sign. Note that dircolors does not verify the validity of these
options.
- NORMAL color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for normal (nonfilename) text.
- Synonym: NORM.
- FILE color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for a regular file.
- DIR color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for directories.
- LINK color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for a symbolic link.
- Synonyms: LNK, SYMLINK.
- ORPHAN color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for an orphaned symbolic link (one which points
to a nonexistent file). If this is unspecified, ls will use the
LINK color instead.
- MISSING color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for a missing file (a nonexistent file which
nevertheless has a symbolic link pointing to it). If this is unspecified,
ls will use the FILE color instead.
- FIFO color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for a FIFO (named pipe).
- Synonym: PIPE.
- SOCK color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for a socket.
- DOOR color-sequence
- (Supported since fileutils 4.1) Specifies the color used for a door
(Solaris 2.5 and later).
- BLK color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for a block device special file.
- Synonym: BLOCK.
- CHR color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for a character device special file.
- Synonym: CHAR.
- EXEC color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for a file with the executable attribute
set.
- SUID color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for a file with the set-user-ID attribute
set.
- Synonym: SETUID.
- SGID color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for a file with the set-group-ID attribute
set.
- Synonym: SETGID.
- STICKY color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for a directory with the sticky attribute
set.
- STICKY_OTHER_WRITABLE color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for an other-writable directory with the
executable attribute set.
- Synonym: OWT.
- OTHER_WRITABLE color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for an other-writable directory without the
executable attribute set.
- Synonym: OWR.
- LEFTCODE color-sequence
- Specifies the left code for non-ISO 6429 terminals (see
below).
- Synonym: LEFT.
- RIGHTCODE color-sequence
- Specifies the right code for non-ISO 6429 terminals (see
below).
- Synonym: RIGHT.
- ENDCODE color-sequence
- Specifies the end code for non-ISO 6429 terminals (see
below).
- Synonym: END.
- *extension color-sequence
- Specifies the color used for any file that ends in extension.
- .extension color-sequence
- Same as *.extension. Specifies the color used for any file
that ends in . extension. Note that the period is included in the
extension, which makes it impossible to specify an extension not starting
with a period, such as ~ for emacs backup files. This form
should be considered obsolete.
Most color-capable ASCII terminals today use ISO 6429 (ANSI) color sequences,
and many common terminals without color capability, including
xterm and
the widely used and cloned DEC VT100, will recognize ISO 6429 color codes and
harmlessly eliminate them from the output or emulate them.
ls uses ISO
6429 codes by default, assuming colorization is enabled.
ISO 6429 color sequences are composed of sequences of numbers separated by
semicolons. The most common codes are:
0 |
to restore default color |
1 |
for brighter colors |
4 |
for underlined text |
5 |
for flashing text |
30 |
for black foreground |
31 |
for red foreground |
32 |
for green foreground |
33 |
for yellow (or brown) foreground |
34 |
for blue foreground |
35 |
for purple foreground |
36 |
for cyan foreground |
37 |
for white (or gray) foreground |
40 |
for black background |
41 |
for red background |
42 |
for green background |
43 |
for yellow (or brown) background |
44 |
for blue background |
45 |
for purple background |
46 |
for cyan background |
47 |
for white (or gray) background |
Not all commands will work on all systems or display devices.
ls uses the following defaults:
NORMAL |
0 |
Normal (nonfilename) text |
FILE |
0 |
Regular file |
DIR |
32 |
Directory |
LINK |
36 |
Symbolic link |
ORPHAN |
undefined |
Orphaned symbolic link |
MISSING |
undefined |
Missing file |
FIFO |
31 |
Named pipe (FIFO) |
SOCK |
33 |
Socket |
BLK |
44;37 |
Block device |
CHR |
44;37 |
Character device |
EXEC |
35 |
Executable file |
A few terminal programs do not recognize the default properly. If all text gets
colorized after you do a directory listing, change the
NORMAL and
FILE codes to the numerical codes for your normal foreground and
background colors.
If you have a color-capable (or otherwise highlighting) terminal (or printer!)
which uses a different set of codes, you can still generate a suitable setup.
To do so, you will have to use the
LEFTCODE,
RIGHTCODE, and
ENDCODE definitions.
When writing out a filename,
ls generates the following output sequence:
LEFTCODE typecode RIGHTCODE filename
ENDCODE, where the
typecode is the color sequence that depends
on the type or name of file. If the
ENDCODE is undefined, the sequence
LEFTCODE NORMAL RIGHTCODE will be used instead. The purpose of the
left- and rightcodes is merely to reduce the amount of typing necessary (and
to hide ugly escape codes away from the user). If they are not appropriate for
your terminal, you can eliminate them by specifying the respective keyword on
a line by itself.
NOTE: If the
ENDCODE is defined in the global section of the setup
file, it
cannot be undefined in a terminal-specific section of the
file. This means any
NORMAL definition will have no effect. A different
ENDCODE can, however, be specified, which would have the same effect.
To specify control- or blank characters in the color sequences or filename
extensions, either C-style \-escaped notation or
stty-style ^-notation
can be used. The C-style notation includes the following characters:
\a |
Bell (ASCII 7) |
\b |
Backspace (ASCII 8) |
\e |
Escape (ASCII 27) |
\f |
Form feed (ASCII 12) |
\n |
Newline (ASCII 10) |
\r |
Carriage Return (ASCII 13) |
\t |
Tab (ASCII 9) |
\v |
Vertical Tab (ASCII 11) |
\? |
Delete (ASCII 127) |
\nnn |
Any character (octal notation) |
\xnnn |
Any character (hexadecimal notation) |
\_ |
Space |
\\ |
Backslash (\) |
\^ |
Caret (^) |
\# |
Hash mark (#) |
Note that escapes are necessary to enter a space, backslash, caret, or any
control character anywhere in the string, as well as a hash mark as the first
character.
- /etc/DIR_COLORS
- System-wide configuration file.
- ~/.dir_colors
- Per-user configuration file.
This page describes the
dir_colors file format as used in the
fileutils-4.1 package; other versions may differ slightly.
The default
LEFTCODE and
RIGHTCODE definitions, which are used by
ISO 6429 terminals are:
The default
ENDCODE is undefined.
dircolors(1),
ls(1),
stty(1),
xterm(1)