NDir(1)

NAME
ndir, lv, lw - list contents of directories

SYNOPSIS
ndir [-a] [-A] [-c] [-d] [-g] [-l] [-r] [-R] [-S] [-t] [-u] [-U] [-X] [-ca] [-cn] [--utc] [-?] [directories/files...]

ndir --info [files...]

lv and lw with the above arguments

DESCRIPTION
NDir is a console-based tool to display the contents of directories. It can both provide a brief overview on the present files and display all interesting information associated with the files. NDir is designed to display the files in a legible and informative way.

NDir lists the contents of directories that appear on the command line. Separate files can be given as well, these files are displayed within the directory they are contained in. For every directory, the full directory path is printed, as well as a summary line stating how many files have been listed and how many disk space they need in total.

To get the directory listing in a brief format, just invoke NDir as 'ndir' or 'lw'. Only the file names are printed. Multiple coloumns are used if possible. Subdirectories have a forward slash after their name.

The long format can be selected with the '-l' option or by invokeing NDir as 'lv'. It includes additional information: file mode, ownership, last modificaton date, size and finally, in the rightmost coloumn, the name.

For a directory, subdirectories are displayed above all other files. The files are displayed in alphabetical, case-insensitive order (requires correct setup, see below). NDir is able to do colourized output of file names, depending on the file's type. By default, colorization is in effect if output goes onto a terminal.

The file-info mode (--info) provides detailed information on individial files.

directories/files...
    The directories and/or files to be listed, separated by white space. If omitted, the current directory is used.

OPTIONS
Options can be given in any order, but always separated by white space. Most options are compatible with GNU ls.

General options

-l  Use the verbose (long) output format. This is the default if NDir is invoked as 'lv'.

--info
    Print properties of given files and directories verbosely, do not do any directory listing.

-?, --help
    Show NDir's version number, do not do any directory listing.

File selection

-a  List hidden files as well (as other files). Hidden files that appear on the command line are displayed regardless of this option.

-A  List hidden files but omit '.' and '..'.

-d  Directories that appear on the command line are displayed within the directory they are contained in; their own contents is not listed. (In brief: they are just treated as ordinary files).

-R  Display the contents of all subdirectories.

File order options

Default order is alphabetical.

-S  Display files ordered by their size (biggest first).

-t  Display files ordered by time (newest first). Default is the last modification time. If used with -u or -c, that time (last access time / status change) is used instead. Subdirectories are mixed with other files.

-U  Display files unordered.

-X  Display files ordered by their name extension.

-r  Reverse the files' order.

Presentation options

-g  The file's group is displayed as well (Verbose format only).

-u  Display the time the files were last used (Verbose format only).

-c  Display the the file's status change time instead of last modification time (Verbose format).

--utc
    Display dates in world time (UTC) instead of local time.

-ca Force NDir to do display colourization regardless of the output device.

-cn Force NDir not to do display colourization at all.

CUSTOMIZING
NDir respects the user's language conventions in some aspects. To make this work properly, ensure the 'LC_COLLATE' and 'LC_NUMERIC (or 'LANG') environment variable is set to your locale. Affected is the ability to do a case-insensitive file order and number display with thousands separator. Contact your system administrator if in doubt.

NDir is able to do display colorization just like 'GNU ls' and expects the LS_COLORS environment variable to hold the color setup. If this variable is not set, NDir has a built-in setup. By default, colorization is only done if output goes directly onto a terminal (see the -ca and -cn option).

ADVANCED ISSUES, BUGS
NDir has a special treatment of symbolic links that link to a directory. In general, they are treated very similar to real directories, e.g. regarding formatting. In verbose output format, links to directories are specially marked as such, but in brief format they cannot be distinguished from real directories. Other symbolic links are treated as links, as expected.

Dates are displayed in ISO 8601 format. Locale settings for dates are ignored.

The combination of giving directories and separate files from these directories in some specific order may make it seem that NDir has forgotten about the separate files.

With '-R', only those subdirectories are displayed that were either displayed in their containing directory or given directly on the command line.

The problem with '-R' and symbolic links to a parent directory, that lead to infinite loops, should be fixed as of version 0.8.5. Such links will not be followed to avoid infinite loops. Such a directory is silently omitted, and also does not show up in the summary line of the directory tree.

If case-insensitive file order and/or number display with thousands separator does not work even though the locale is set up correctly, the reason may be that the selected locale doesn't have that information, either intentionally or by error.

Display colourization works fine with terminals that understand the ISO 6429 codes. The implementation is certainly not portable enough for some other terminals.

AUTHOR
NDir was written by Michael Weers (michael.weers@gmx.de).
Copyright (C) 1997-2001 by Michael Weers.
NDir is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

SEE ALSO
ls(1), dircolors(1), locale(1), locale(7)