---
name: "exa"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "exa"
version: "0.10.1-4+b1"
release: "Debian 12 (Bookworm)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/exa"
---

# exa(1)

a modern replacement for ls

## NAME

exa — a modern replacement for ls

## SYNOPSIS

exa \[options\] \[files...\]

**exa** is a modern replacement for ls. It uses colours for information by default, helping you distinguish between many types of files, such as whether you are the owner, or in the owning group.

It also has extra features not present in the original ls, such as viewing the Git status for a directory, or recursing into directories with a tree view.

## EXAMPLES

- exa

  Lists the contents of the current directory in a grid.

- exa --oneline --reverse --sort=size

  Displays a list of files with the largest at the top.

- exa --long --header --inode --git

  Displays a table of files with a header, showing each file’s metadata, inode, and Git status.

- exa --long --tree --level=3

  Displays a tree of files, three levels deep, as well as each file’s metadata.

## DISPLAY OPTIONS

- \-1, --oneline

  Display one entry per line.

- \-F, --classify

  Display file kind indicators next to file names.

- \-G, --grid

  Display entries as a grid (default).

- \-l, --long

  Display extended file metadata as a table.

- \-R, --recurse

  Recurse into directories.

- \-T, --tree

  Recurse into directories as a tree.

- \-x, --across

  Sort the grid across, rather than downwards.

- \--color, --colour=WHEN

  When to use terminal colours. Valid settings are \`always', \`automatic', and \`never'.

- \--color-scale, --colour-scale

  Colour file sizes on a scale.

- \--icons

  Display icons next to file names.

- \--no-icons

  Don’t display icons. (Always overrides –icons)

## FILTERING AND SORTING OPTIONS

- \-a, --all

  Show hidden and “dot” files. Use this twice to also show the \`.' and \`..' directories.

- \-d, --list-dirs

  List directories as regular files, rather than recursing and listing their contents.

- \-L, --level=DEPTH

  Limit the depth of recursion.

- \-r, --reverse

  Reverse the sort order.

- \-s, --sort=SORT\_FIELD

  Which field to sort by.

Valid sort fields are \`name', \`Name', \`extension', \`Extension', \`size', \`modified', \`changed', \`accessed', \`created', \`inode', \`type', and \`none'.

The modified sort field has the aliases \`date', \`time', and \`newest', and its reverse order has the aliases \`age' and \`oldest'.

Sort fields starting with a capital letter will sort uppercase before lowercase: \`A' then \`B' then \`a' then \`b'. Fields starting with a lowercase letter will mix them: \`A' then \`a' then \`B' then \`b'.

- \-I, --ignore-glob=GLOBS

  Glob patterns, pipe-separated, of files to ignore.

- \--git-ignore \[if exa was built with git support\]

  Do not list files that are ignored by Git.

- \--group-directories-first

  List directories before other files.

- \-D, --only-dirs

  List only directories, not files.

## LONG VIEW OPTIONS

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.

- \--changed

  Use the changed timestamp field.

- \-g, --group

  List each file’s group.

- \-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.

- \-n, --numeric

  List numeric user and group IDs.

- \-S, --blocks

  List each file’s number of file system blocks.

- \-t, --time=WORD

  Which timestamp field to list. Valid timestamp fields are \`modified', \`changed', \`accessed', and \`created'.

- \--time-style=STYLE

  How to format timestamps. Valid timestamp styles are \`default', \`iso', \`long-iso', and \`full-iso'.

- \-u, --accessed

  Use the accessed timestamp field.

- \-U, --created

  Use the created timestamp field.

- \--no-permissions

  Suppress the permissions field.

- \--no-filesize

  Suppress the file size field.

- \--no-user

  Suppress the user field.

- \--no-time

  Suppress the time field.

- \-@, --extended

  List each file’s extended attributes and sizes.

- \--git \[if exa was built with git support\]

  List each file’s Git status, if tracked.

This adds a two-character column indicating the staged and unstaged statuses respectively. The status character can be \`-' for not modified, \`M' for a modified file, \`N' for a new file, \`D' for deleted, \`R' for renamed, \`T' for type-change, \`I' for ignored, and \`U' for conflicted.

Directories will be shown to have the status of their contents, which is how \`deleted' is possible: if a directory contains a file that has a certain status, it will be shown to have that status.

## ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

exa responds to the following environment variables:

### COLUMNS

Overrides the width of the terminal, in characters.

For example, \`COLUMNS=80 exa' will show a grid view with a maximum width of 80 characters.

This option won’t do anything when exa’s output doesn’t wrap, such as when using the --long view.

### EXA\_STRICT

Enables *strict mode*, which will make exa error when two command-line options are incompatible.

Usually, options can override each other going right-to-left on the command line, so that exa can be given aliases: creating an alias \`exa=exa --sort=ext' then running \`exa --sort=size' with that alias will run \`exa --sort=ext --sort=size', and the sorting specified by the user will override the sorting specified by the alias.

In strict mode, the two options will not co-operate, and exa will error.

This option is intended for use with automated scripts and other situations where you want to be certain you’re typing in the right command.

### EXA\_GRID\_ROWS

Limits the grid-details view (\`exa --grid --long') so it’s only activated when at least the given number of rows of output would be generated.

With widescreen displays, it’s possible for the grid to look very wide and sparse, on just one or two lines with none of the columns lining up. By specifying a minimum number of rows, you can only use the view if it’s going to be worth using.

### EXA\_ICON\_SPACING

Specifies the number of spaces to print between an icon (see the \`--icons' option) and its file name.

Different terminals display icons differently, as they usually take up more than one character width on screen, so there’s no “standard” number of spaces that exa can use to separate an icon from text. One space may place the icon too close to the text, and two spaces may place it too far away. So the choice is left up to the user to configure depending on their terminal emulator.

### LS\_COLORS, EXA\_COLORS

Specifies the colour scheme used to highlight files based on their name and kind, as well as highlighting metadata and parts of the UI.

For more information on the format of these environment variables, see the [exa\_colors(5)](/exa_colors/5.md) manual page.

## EXIT STATUSES

- 0

  If everything goes OK.

- 1

  If there was an I/O error during operation.

- 3

  If there was a problem with the command-line arguments.

## AUTHOR

exa is maintained by Benjamin \`ogham' Sago and many other contributors.

**Website:** https://the.exa.website/

**Source code:** https://github.com/ogham/exa

**Contributors:** https://github.com/ogham/exa/graphs/contributors

## SEE ALSO

- •

  [exa\_colors(5)](/exa_colors/5.md)