Configuring LS_COLORS

Posted by on 11 Apr 2008 in Techie

The directory lister under UNIX is called ls. In the deep and distant past this was a very black and white affair. GNU has changed all that by introducing an environment variable called LS_COLORS which allows you to set the colours of files based on extension, permissions and file type.

As usual the instructions on how to configure it are locked away so that only a privileged few know how to configure them. When I started looking for this holy grail, I came across some poor guy who had worked it out through trial and error. I thought that there must be some documentation, somewhere on the internet. But, no! I have pieced together all the information I could find from mail list postings, support forums and when I eventually found it, the source code.

I will attempt to describe what I have discovered on my journey so that others may start from here with a better understanding of how LS_COLORS works.

The BSD implementation of ls used in BSD, FreeBSD and MacOS is slightly different. It uses a set or unset CLICOLOR environment variable or the ls command line switch -G to indicate whether to use the colours defined in the environment variable LSCOLORS. Whereas GNU's ls uses the command line switch −−colour and the environment variable LS_COLORS instead (Thanks Gilles).

If you do not specify a colour to use then the default will be used, which is why unsetting LS_COLORS has no visible effect. The defaults can be obtained by running the dircolors command

dircolors --print-database

which gives you


LS_COLORS='rs=0:di=01;34:ln=01;36:mh=00:pi=40;33:so=01;35:do=01;35:bd=40;33;01:cd=40;33;01:or=40;31;01:su=37;41:sg=30;43:ca=30;41:tw=30;42:ow=34;42:st=37;44:ex=01;32:*.tar=01;31:*.tgz=01;31:*.arj=01;31:*.taz=01;31:*.lzh=01;31:*.lzma=01;31:*.tlz=01;31:*.txz=01;31:*.zip=01;31:*.z=01;31:*.Z=01;31:*.dz=01;31:*.gz=01;31:*.lz=01;31:*.xz=01;31:*.bz2=01;31:*.bz=01;31:*.tbz=01;31:*.tbz2=01;31:*.tz=01;31:*.deb=01;31:*.rpm=01;31:*.jar=01;31:*.rar=01;31:*.ace=01;31:*.zoo=01;31:*.cpio=01;31:*.7z=01;31:*.rz=01;31:*.jpg=01;35:*.jpeg=01;35:*.gif=01;35:*.bmp=01;35:*.pbm=01;35:*.pgm=01;35:*.ppm=01;35:*.tga=01;35:*.xbm=01;35:*.xpm=01;35:*.tif=01;35:*.tiff=01;35:*.png=01;35:*.svg=01;35:*.svgz=01;35:*.mng=01;35:*.pcx=01;35:*.mov=01;35:*.mpg=01;35:*.mpeg=01;35:*.m2v=01;35:*.mkv=01;35:*.ogm=01;35:*.mp4=01;35:*.m4v=01;35:*.mp4v=01;35:*.vob=01;35:*.qt=01;35:*.nuv=01;35:*.wmv=01;35:*.asf=01;35:*.rm=01;35:*.rmvb=01;35:*.flc=01;35:*.avi=01;35:*.fli=01;35:*.flv=01;35:*.gl=01;35:*.dl=01;35:*.xcf=01;35:*.xwd=01;35:*.yuv=01;35:*.cgm=01;35:*.emf=01;35:*.axv=01;35:*.anx=01;35:*.ogv=01;35:*.ogx=01;35:*.aac=00;36:*.au=00;36:*.flac=00;36:*.mid=00;36:*.midi=00;36:*.mka=00;36:*.mp3=00;36:*.mpc=00;36:*.ogg=00;36:*.ra=00;36:*.wav=00;36:*.axa=00;36:*.oga=00;36:*.spx=00;36:*.xspf=00;36:';
export LS_COLORS

The database in question is a globally readable file which can be overridden depending on your terminal type. The database file is initially set to /etc/DIR_COLORS then overridden with one of the following. The first being the least precedent and the last being the most.

/etc/DIR_COLORS.$TERM
/etc/DIR_COLORS.$TERM
$HOME/.dircolors
$HOME/.dircolors.$TERM
$HOME/.dir_colors
$HOME/.dir_colors.$TERM

This configuration file has several options:

COLOR - ether:
- tty (add colour to ls when output is on the command line)
- all (all colours to ls on the command line and when piping i.e. ls > file.txt will have colour coding information in it)
- none (switch off)
OPTIONS - strictly not related to LS_COLORS. This allows you to add extra options to the ls command.
TERM - one line per terminal type that supports colour.
EIGHTBIT - 1 (on) or 0 (off) to allow 8-bit output.
and finally the colour definitions for file type and file extensions.

On most systems the ls command has been aliased to use the coloured option by default:

alias "ls=ls --color=auto"

The LS_COLORS environment variable is a colon separated list of key=colour pairs. There are 2 types of key: file types and file extensions.

Below is a list of all the keys (that I know of!). Thanks to Bartman for his starter page.

Key	/etc/DIR_COLORS name	Notes
no	NORMAL, NORM	Global default, although everything should be something
fi	FILE	Normal file
di	DIR	Directory
ln	SYMLINK, LINK, LNK	Symbolic link. If you set this to 'target' instead of a numerical value, the colour is as for the file pointed to.
pi	FIFO, PIPE	Named pipe
do	DOOR	Door
bd	BLOCK, BLK	Block device
cd	CHAR, CHR	Character device
or	ORPHAN	Symbolic link pointing to a non-existent file
so	SOCK	Socket
su	SETUID	File that is setuid (u+s)
sg	SETGID	File that is setgid (g+s)
tw	STICKY_OTHER_WRITABLE	Directory that is sticky and other-writable (+t,o+w)
ow	OTHER_WRITABLE	Directory that is other-writable (o+w) and not sticky
st	STICKY	Directory with the sticky bit set (+t) and not other-writable
ex	EXEC	Executable file (i.e. has 'x' set in permissions)
mi	MISSING	Non-existent file pointed to by a symbolic link (visible when you type ls -l)
lc	LEFTCODE, LEFT	Opening terminal code
rc	RIGHTCODE, RIGHT	Closing terminal code
ec	ENDCODE, END	Non-filename text
*.extension		Every file using this extension e.g. *.jpg

The keys (above) are assigned a colour pattern which is a semi-colon separated list of colour codes.

Effects

Code	Property
00	Default colour
01	Bold
04	Underlined
05	Flashing text
07	Reversetd
08	Concealed

Colours

Code	Property
30	Black
31	Red
32	Green
33	Orange
34	Blue
35	Purple
36	Cyan
37	Grey

Backgrounds

Code	Property
40	Black background
41	Red background
42	Green background
43	Orange background
44	Blue background
45	Purple background
46	Cyan background
47	Grey background

Extra colours

Code	Property
90	Dark grey
91	Light red
92	Light green
93	Yellow
94	Light blue
95	Light purple
96	Turquoise
97	White
100	Dark grey background
101	Light red background
102	Light green background
103	Yellow background
104	Light blue background
105	Light purple background
106	Turquoise background
107	White background

Most of the defaults are all right and not really worth changing. By default, executable directories show up as white on a light green background and normal directories which are blue on a black background. Both of these settings make your eyes go funny! So here is how to change just them.

LS_COLORS="ow=01;90:di=01;90"
export LS_COLORS

The above snippet changes both directories colours to grey.

Just as an aside, the easiest way to remap your colours is via the client control interface. I use PuTTY which allows you to redefine the terminal colour settings, but I think I'll save that for another block entry!

40 comments

Comment from: MightyBigCar [Visitor]

Well, it isn’t too secret. Try here:

http://dailypackage.fedorabook.com/index.php?/archives/109-Wednesday-Why-Colour-ls.html

Comment from: davidnewcomb [Member]

I don’t think that your reference goes anywhere near describing how to do “Configuring LS_COLORS” but I’ll allow it in for two reasons: 1) the fact that anyone makes a comment is nice! 2) It’s another link to LS_COLORS which is a bit of a complicated affair, so the more links the better.

Added I know that I get about 400 page views (per month) of this article, but if I mention affair, will I get all the porn hunters looking here? Oh no, I’ve mentioned porn does that mean I’ll get even more? I’ll analyse the blog stats over the next couple of months and let you know… (in another blog!)

Comment from: ri [Visitor]

i’ve searched in vain for the answer to this: I want to remove sg colors BUT have it use the extension colors instead i.e. ignore the sticky bit. setting sg=00 or removing it from ~/.dir_colors just makes those files black-n-white without the pretty colors by extension. thanks for any help.

Comment from: davidnewcomb [Member]

I’m afraid Ri you are out of luck. The sticky bit takes precedence over the other file types. Once “ls” sees that the file is sticky the extension settings are never read. It’s an interesting request, you may want to email the GNU team and add it as a feature request or bug. Try here: GNU FileUtils Project

Comment from: Rita [Visitor]

Thanks from me and from my eyes!

Comment from: myname [Visitor]

please add:

97 - White (-:

Comment from: acne [Visitor]

Colours make it much easier to read .

Comment from: Wh1mpy [Visitor]

This tut was very useful for me and my eyes. I almost went blind staring at blue letters. Many thanks for you’re effort..

Comment from: peter [Visitor]

I see that you can choose file extensions to color, but is there a way to color hidden files for when i do ‘ls -a’ like ‘.cshrc’? It doesn’t accept ‘.*’ as a valid entry.

Comment from: your lastname [Visitor]

Thanks for your great tip! It made my shell colorful!

Comment from: anthony [Visitor]

I’ve known and used ansi color sequences for a long time now, and this is the first reference to the ‘Extra colours’ that I’ve ever seen.

Sure enough, I tried them out and they all work! Awesome. (now I’m gonna waste a good chunk of time seeing how I can further customize all my syntax highlighting, LS_COLORS, zsh completion menu colors, etc etc…)

Where did you find out about these?

Comment from: edigitalwholesale [Visitor]

Thanks for good knowledge. it’s very useful way to change color.

Comment from: Pete [Visitor]

This was very useful. Thanks for sharing. :-)

Comment from: ed [Visitor]

Since your solution of : LS_COLORS="ow=01;90:di=01;90″ export LS_COLORS overwrites a possible existing configuration of LS_COLORS, you can juste substitute the existing definition with sed (stream editor) as follows :

LS_COLORS="echo $LS_COLORS |sed 's/di=[0-9]*;[0-9]*/di=01;34/; s/ow=[0-9]*;[0-9]*/ow=01;34/'” export LS_COLORS

Regards

Comment from: j tweed [Visitor]

You don’t make any mention of ~/.dir_colors or /etc/DIR_COLORS. At least the link provided by MightyBigCar does so, (and there is one in a comment)/ It seems to me that ~/.dir_colors is a convenient place to define colors.

Otherwise, a very useful tutorial. thanks.

Comment from: davidnewcomb [Member]

Thanks j tweed, you are right. I have added a section describing the dir_colors file.

Comment from: Rich [Visitor]

Seems like it boils down to this:

dircolors –print-database > ~/.dircolors
vi .dircolors
update bashrc to look for ~/.dircolors (as per info page referenced in “man dircolors")

if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then

   d=.dircolors
   test -r $d && eval "$(dircolors $d)" || eval "`dircolors -b`"

Thanks for all the info.

Comment from: Michael Cook [Visitor]

This was very useful to me cos my old eyes don’t like DIR 1;034 which is the bold blue used by default for directories on my Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy set up. I changed it to bold yellow so now I can see it. Who chooses these things anyway? Thank you!

Comment from: Adam J [Visitor]

I work in an environment where a bunch of users are idiots and make everything 777 or 755. Is there a way to make is so that ex= does not override extensions like *.gz?

Comment from: Peter Vanderhaden [Visitor]

Love the article, but I do have one question. This seems to work perfectly in OS X, but when I do the exact same thing in Kubuntu 10.04, the first line of the ls -la listing is bright in color, and all the others are colored, but dull. Any ideas?

Comment from: Rory [Visitor]

You could just look at the man page!

man ls

Comment from: brian hefele [Visitor]

I have recently switched from BSD ls to GNU ls, and have been trying to perfect my LS_COLORS — this guide has been a godsend (one of many)…

A couple of things - you are missing at least two key - mh/MULTIHARDLINK for “Regular file[s] with more than one link” and ca/CAPABILITY for “File with capability.”

Also, and I haven’t seen this anywhere, if you’re feeling bold you can use the 256 colors of xterm instead of ANSI colors. You want to set the value of the key to the whole xterm escape sequence, as in \033[38;5;159. 38 there refers to foreground, 48 would be background. 159 is the color. Colors can be separated w/ the letter ‘m’, and ANSI escapes for underline, bold, flash, etc. can also be tacked on with an ‘m,’ as in \033[38;5;159m\e[04 (same as above, only underlined.)

I dread that the above will get eaten in the commenting process… :)

Comment from: mr black [Visitor]

change Black for Block in the table bd BLOCK, BLK Black device

Comment from: davidnewcomb [Member]

many thanks mr black

Comment from: forum flood [Visitor]

Thanks for putting that together :)

Comment from: ChrisJ [Visitor]

Is there a simple way to turn off colors? (so that you see white letters on a black background and black letters on a white background). Putty defaults to a black background and xterm defaults to a white background.

In my opinion, blue-on-black and green-on-white are both ugly. : -)

Comment from: ChrisJ [Visitor]

Ok. I see now. To turn off colors use the unalias command. unalias ls ;

alias | egrep ls alias l.=’ls -d .* –color=tty’ alias ll=’ls -l –color=tty’ alias ls=’ls –color=tty’

It is ok to create new aliases that are not spelled the same as the standard commands. But I feel very strongly that you should never change the behaviour of an existing command such as ls. The last thing you want is to have your script changing behaviour (breaking) based on the configuration of the user running it.

This is a great guide. Thanks for writing it.

Comment from: Kirby Foster [Visitor]

Thanks for the easy to read howto.

Comment from: Curtis Rueden [Visitor]

One more color code for the list: 30 = Black

Comment from: zss [Visitor]

block entry ?

Comment from: cyrille [Visitor]

Other than color names choice (ie 33 looks like yellow and 47 like white to me eyes), this is a fu*ing well done an dcomprehensive explanation on setting up LS_COLORS :)

Here’s how I set it up in ~/.bashrc (XDG compliant if it exists):

# Enable colors for ls, etc, prefering user's dircolors
if type -P dircolors >/dev/null ; then
    if [[ -f "$XDG_HOME_CONFIG/bash/dircolors" ]] ; then
        eval $(dircolors -b "$XDG_HOME_CONFIG/bash/dircolors")
    elif [[ -f ~/.dircolors ]] ; then
        eval $(dircolors -b ~/.dircolors)
        elif [[ -f /etc/DIR_COLORS ]] ;
then                                        
        eval $(dircolors -b /etc/DIR_COLORS)
    fi
fi

The following article emphasize on testing colors (nice tests) and setting usefull prompts thanks to your colors: *Bash tips: Colors and formatting* ( http://misc.flogisoft.com/bash/tip_colors_and_formatting )

Comment from: Kevin [Visitor]

In Ubuntu 15.10 (and perhaps in the Debian it is derived from), the setup is already in place. You just have to create the desired color scheme in your home directory as ~/.dircolors. The other locations mentioned above are not supported out of the box. The relevant stanza in the provided .bashrc is (in part):

if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then
    test -r ~/.dircolors && eval "$(dircolors -b ~/.dircolors)" || eval "$(dircolors -b)";
    alias ls='ls --color=auto';
fi

Comment from: Rubo77 [Visitor]

add 107 = white background

Comment from: Arc [Visitor]

Thank you for this.

I had a problem with a bright green highlight showing for the background color of directories on an NTFS drive. Changing the line in .dir_colors from:

OTHER_WRITABLE 34;42 # dir that …

to:

OTHER_WRITABLE 94;40 # dir …

made it more bearable.

Comment from: Pedro [Visitor]

Almost 11 years since you wrote this article, here I am to say thank you!

Comment from: ask [Visitor]

Useful

Comment from: Alan G [Visitor]

I agree with Pedro, 12 years and running, this post is still helpful to people. Thanks for writing it and sharing what you have learned. The crazy directory highlight/background color in Windows 10’s WSL Ubuntu 20.04 was driving me nuts.

Comment from: paklix [Visitor]

thankyou for amazing post

Comment from: Mike [Visitor]

Who knew ls colours could get so complicated! Thank you for the post, tres helpful. ps. Did you ever consider adding colour to your post about ls colours?

Comment from: peter [Visitor]

you can use rgb colors too, same as html, eg (powershell syntax to set the variable) the sql value here: $env:LS_COLORS=’no=0:*.txt=38;5;178:*.rpm=38;5;220;1:*.ps1=38;5;190:*.sql=38;2;255;0;0;48;2;0;255;0′

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