eza README

The project's README from github.com/eza-community/eza. As one markdown file: README.md.

Special thanks to:

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eza

A modern replacement for ls.

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Built with Nix Contributor Covenant

Unit tests Crates.io Crates.io

eza demo gif

eza is a modern alternative for the venerable file-listing command-line program ls that ships with Unix and Linux operating systems, giving it more features and better defaults. It uses colours to distinguish file types and metadata. It knows about symlinks, extended attributes, and Git. And it’s small, fast, and just one single binary.

By deliberately making some decisions differently, eza attempts to be a more featureful, more user-friendly version of ls.

eza features not in exa (non-exhaustive):

...and like, so much more that it became exhausting to update this all the time. Like seriously, we have a lot of good stuff.

Try it!

Nix ❄️

If you already have Nix setup with flake support, you can try out eza with the nix run command:

nix run github:eza-community/eza

Nix will build eza and run it.

If you want to pass arguments this way, use e.g. nix run github:eza-community/eza -- -ol.

Installation

eza is available for Windows, macOS and Linux. Platform and distribution specific installation instructions can be found in INSTALL.md.

Packaging status

Command-line options

eza’s options are almost, but not quite, entirely unlike ls’s. Quick overview:

Display options

Click to expand
  • -1, --oneline: display one entry per line
  • -G, --grid: display entries as a grid (default)
  • -l, --long: display extended details and attributes
  • -R, --recurse: recurse into directories
  • -T, --tree: recurse into directories as a tree
  • -x, --across: sort the grid across, rather than downwards
  • -F, --classify=(when): display type indicator by file names (always, auto, never)
  • --colo[u]r=(when): when to use terminal colours (always, auto, never)
  • --colo[u]r-scale=(field): highlight levels of field distinctly(all, age, size)
  • --color-scale-mode=(mode): use gradient or fixed colors in --color-scale. valid options are fixed or gradient
  • --icons=(when): when to display icons (always, auto, never)
  • --hyperlink=(when): when to display entries as hyperlinks (always, auto, never)
  • --absolute=(mode): display entries with their absolute path (on, follow, off)
  • -w, --width=(columns): set screen width in columns

Filtering options

Click to expand
  • -a, --all: show hidden and 'dot' files
  • -d, --treat-dirs-as-files: list directories like regular files
  • -L, --level=(depth): limit the depth of recursion
  • -r, --reverse: reverse the sort order
  • -s, --sort=(field): which field to sort by
  • --group-directories-first: list directories before other files
  • --group-directories-last: list directories after other files
  • -D, --only-dirs: list only directories
  • -f, --only-files: list only files
  • --no-symlinks: don't show symbolic links
  • --show-symlinks: explicitly show links (with --only-dirs, --only-files, to show symlinks that match the filter)
  • --git-ignore: ignore files mentioned in .gitignore
  • -I, --ignore-glob=(globs): glob patterns (pipe-separated) of files to ignore

Pass the --all option twice to also show the . and .. directories.

Long view options

Click to expand

These options are available when running with --long (-l):

  • -b, --binary: list file sizes with binary prefixes
  • -B, --bytes: list file sizes in bytes, without any prefixes
  • -g, --group: list each file’s group
  • --smart-group: only show group if it has a different name from owner
  • -h, --header: add a header row to each column
  • -H, --links: list each file’s number of hard links
  • -i, --inode: list each file’s inode number
  • -m, --modified: use the modified timestamp field
  • -M, --mounts: Show mount details (Linux and MacOS only).
  • -S, --blocksize: show size of allocated file system blocks
  • -t, --time=(field): which timestamp field to use
  • -u, --accessed: use the accessed timestamp field
  • -U, --created: use the created timestamp field
  • -X, --dereference: dereference symlinks for file information
  • -Z, --context: list each file’s security context
  • -@, --extended: list each file’s extended attributes and sizes
  • --changed: use the changed timestamp field
  • --git: list each file’s Git status, if tracked or ignored
  • --git-repos: list each directory’s Git status, if tracked
  • --git-repos-no-status: list whether a directory is a Git repository, but not its status (faster)
  • --no-git: suppress Git status (always overrides --git, --git-repos, --git-repos-no-status)
  • --time-style: how to format timestamps. valid timestamp styles are ‘default’, ‘iso’, ‘long-iso’, ‘full-iso’, ‘relative’, or a custom style ‘+<FORMAT>’ (E.g., ‘+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M’ => ‘2023-09-30 13:00’. For more specifications on the format string, see the eza(1) manual page and chrono documentation.).
  • --total-size: show recursive directory size
  • --no-permissions: suppress the permissions field
  • -o, --octal-permissions: list each file's permission in octal format
  • --no-filesize: suppress the filesize field
  • --no-user: suppress the user field
  • --no-time: suppress the time field
  • --stdin: read file names from stdin

Some of the options accept parameters:

  • Valid --colo[u]r options are always, automatic (or auto for short), and never.
  • Valid sort fields are accessed, changed, created, extension, Extension, inode, modified, name, Name, size, type, and none. Fields starting with a capital letter sort uppercase before lowercase. The modified field has the aliases date, time, and newest, while its reverse has the aliases age and oldest.
  • Valid time fields are modified, changed, accessed, and created.
  • Valid time styles are default, iso, long-iso, full-iso, and relative.

See the man pages for further documentation of usage. They are available

Custom Themes

Click to expand

Eza has recently added support for a theme.yml file, where you can specify all of the existing theme-ing options available for the LS_COLORS and EXA_COLORS environment variables, as well as the option to specify different icons for different file types and extensions. Any existing environment variables set will continue to work and will take precedence for backwards compatibility.

New Pre-made themes

Check out the themes available in the official eza-themes repository, or contribute your own.

An example theme file is available in docs/theme.yml, and needs to either be placed in a directory specified by the environment variable EZA_CONFIG_DIR, or will looked for by default in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/eza.

Full details are available on the man page and an example theme file is included here

Hacking on eza

If you wanna contribute to eza, firstly, you're expected to follow our code of conduct. After having understood the code of conduct, you can have a look at our CONTRIBUTING.md for more info about actual hacking.

Star History Chart

eza (eza-community/eza)

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23.6K ·GitHub
Eza
What is this?eza is a modern replacement for the venerable ls command: a file lister for the terminal with colours, icons and more features and better defaults.
How is it different from just using ls?It's a single small, fast binary — not a library or a service. It grew out of exa, and the README lists a pile of things exa never had, from hyperlinks to a theme file.
Do I need to install anything else besides the eza binary?Nothing — the binary is self-contained. The only nice-to-have is a Nerd Font in your terminal so the --icons file icons render properly.
Does everything work the same on every OS?All three desktop platforms are supported, but a few options are platform-bound — mount details (-M) only show on Linux and macOS. It's also close to ls but not an exact clone: options are 'almost, but not quite, entirely unlike ls's'.
Is it just a flat list of filenames?No — the default view is a grid, with one-line (-1), detailed long (-l), tree (-T) and recursive (-R) modes. You can sort by name, size, age or extension, show hidden files, and filter by globs or .gitignore.
What can the long view show about each file?Permissions (octal too), file sizes, modified, accessed or created timestamps, inode and hard-link counts, extended attributes, Git status, security context and mount details — mostly behind flags like --git, -@, -U and -o.
Can I customize the colours and icons?Yes — a theme.yml file controls colours and icons; drop it in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/eza or a folder set via EZACONFIGDIR. Ready-made themes live in the official eza-themes repo, and the old LSCOLORS/EXACOLORS variables still work.
What does eza add over exa, its predecessor?Hyperlink support, mount point details, SELinux context output, Git repo status for directories, human-readable relative dates, bright terminal colours, a customizable theme.yml and a fix for exa's 2021 'Grid Bug'.
What are similar projects?lsd, exa, oh-my-posh, fd, turbocrypt, diff-so-fancy, dust, lane
Which topics is it in?files, nerd-fonts, color, filesystem, tools, icons, theme, sysadmin, cli-tool, git, beginner-friendly, utility
Creator
eza-community
Size
8.2 MB
Stars
23.6K
Updated
CommitJul 09Releasev0.23.5Jul 09
Age
3y
Commits · 90 Days