directory-listing

Directory Listing Guidelines

Context

• This rule provides guidance on how to list directory contents on different operating systems.
• Apply when user asks for directory listing or file exploration.
• Use when navigating the filesystem.
• Always consider excluding common large/noisy directories like .git, node_modules, etc.
• The approach differs between Unix-like systems (Linux, macOS) and Windows systems.

Unix/Linux/macOS Systems

• Unix systems typically use bash, zsh, or other POSIX-compliant shells.
• macOS has BSD variants of some commands with slightly different options.

Critical rules for Unix-like systems

• Use ls for basic directory listing.
• Use ls -l for detailed listing with permissions, sizes, and dates.
• Use ls -la to include hidden files (those starting with .).
• Use ls -lh for human-readable file sizes (KB, MB, GB).
• Use ls -lt to sort by modification time (newest first).
• Use ls -lS to sort by file size (largest first).
• Use find . -type f -name "*.txt" to search for files by pattern.
• Use find . -type d -name "*src*" to search for directories by pattern.
• Use find . -type f -exec ls -lh {} \; to get detailed listing of found files.
• Use du -sh * to show disk usage of directories in human-readable format.
• Use du -sh */ | sort -hr to show directories sorted by size (largest first).
• For tree-like view, use the tree command if available or install it.
• For finding files by content, use grep -r "search-term" ..
• For file counting, use find . -type f | wc -l.
• For macOS/BSD systems, remember options may differ slightly from GNU versions.
• Use the more modern fd command instead of find when available for better performance and simpler syntax.
• For searching file content with pattern context, use grep -r "search-term" . -A 2 -B 2 to show 2 lines before and after.
• For large directories, use ls -la | head -20 to limit output to first 20 entries.
• Consider using exa or lsd as modern replacements for ls when available.