DIR_COLORS(5)		       Linux User Manual		 DIR_COLORS(5)



NAME
       dir_colors - configuration file for dircolors(1)

DESCRIPTION
       The  program ls(1) uses the environment variable LS_COLORS to determine
       the colors in which the filenames are to be displayed.	This  environ-
       ment variable is usually set by a command like

	      eval `dircolors some_path/dir_colors`

       found  in a system default shell initialization file, like /etc/profile
       or /etc/csh.cshrc.  (See also dircolors(1).)  Usually,  the  file  used
       here  is /etc/DIR_COLORS and can be overridden by a .dir_colors file in
       one's home directory.

       This configuration file consists of several statements, one  per	 line.
       Anything	 right of a hash mark (#) is treated as a comment, if the hash
       mark is at the beginning of a line or  is  preceded  by	at  least  one
       whitespace.  Blank lines are ignored.

       The  global  section  of	 the file consists of any statement before the
       first TERM statement.  Any statement in the global section of the  file
       is  considered valid for all terminal types.  Following the global sec-
       tion is one or more terminal-specific sections, preceded by one or more
       TERM  statements which specify the terminal types (as given by the TERM
       environment variable) the  following  declarations  apply  to.	It  is
       always possible to override a global declaration by a subsequent termi-
       nal-specific one.

       The following statements are recognized; case is insignificant:

       TERM terminal-type
	      Starts a terminal-specific section and specifies which  terminal
	      it applies to.  Multiple TERM statements can be used to create a
	      section which applies for several terminal types.

       COLOR yes|all|no|none|tty
	      (Slackware only; ignored by GNU dircolors(1).)   Specifies  that
	      colorization  should  always  be	enabled	 (yes  or  all), never
	      enabled (no or none), or enabled only if the output is a	termi-
	      nal (tty).  The default is no.

       EIGHTBIT yes|no
	      (Slackware  only;	 ignored by GNU dircolors(1).)	Specifies that
	      eight-bit ISO 8859 characters should be enabled by default.  For
	      compatibility  reasons,  this can also be specified as 1 for yes
	      or 0 for no.  The default is no.

       OPTIONS options
	      (Slackware only; ignored by GNU  dircolors(1).)	Adds  command-
	      line options to the default ls command line.  The options can be
	      any valid ls command-line options, and should include the	 lead-
	      ing  minus sign.	Note that dircolors does not verify the valid-
	      ity of these options.

       NORMAL color-sequence
	      Specifies the color used for normal (nonfilename) text.

	      Synonym: NORM.

       FILE color-sequence
	      Specifies the color used for a regular file.

       DIR color-sequence
	      Specifies the color used for directories.

       LINK color-sequence
	      Specifies the color used for a symbolic link.

	      Synonyms: LNK, SYMLINK.

       ORPHAN color-sequence
	      Specifies the color used for  an	orphaned  symbolic  link  (one
	      which points to a nonexistent file).  If this is unspecified, ls
	      will use the LINK color instead.

       MISSING color-sequence
	      Specifies the color used for a missing file (a nonexistent  file
	      which nevertheless has a symbolic link pointing to it).  If this
	      is unspecified, ls will use the FILE color instead.

       FIFO color-sequence
	      Specifies the color used for a FIFO (named pipe).

	      Synonym: PIPE.

       SOCK color-sequence
	      Specifies the color used for a socket.

       DOOR color-sequence
	      (Supported since fileutils 4.1) Specifies the color used	for  a
	      door (Solaris 2.5 and later).

       BLK color-sequence
	      Specifies the color used for a block device special file.

	      Synonym: BLOCK.

       CHR color-sequence
	      Specifies the color used for a character device special file.

	      Synonym: CHAR.

       EXEC color-sequence
	      Specifies	 the  color  used  for	a  file	 with  the  executable
	      attribute set.

       SUID color-sequence
	      Specifies the  color  used  for  a  file	with  the  set-user-ID
	      attribute set.

	      Synonym: SETUID.

       SGID color-sequence
	      Specifies	 the  color  used  for	a  file	 with the set-group-ID
	      attribute set.

	      Synonym: SETGID.

       STICKY color-sequence
	      Specifies the  color  used  for  a  directory  with  the	sticky
	      attribute set.

       STICKY_OTHER_WRITABLE color-sequence
	      Specifies	 the  color  used for an other-writable directory with
	      the executable attribute set.

	      Synonym: OWT.

       OTHER_WRITABLE color-sequence
	      Specifies the color used for an other-writable directory without
	      the executable attribute set.

	      Synonym: OWR.

       LEFTCODE color-sequence
	      Specifies the left code for non-ISO 6429 terminals (see below).

	      Synonym: LEFT.

       RIGHTCODE color-sequence
	      Specifies the right code for non-ISO 6429 terminals (see below).

	      Synonym: RIGHT.

       ENDCODE color-sequence
	      Specifies the end code for non-ISO 6429 terminals (see below).

	      Synonym: END.

       *extension color-sequence
	      Specifies the color used for any file that ends in extension.

	.extension color-sequence
	      Same as *.extension.  Specifies the color used for any file that
	      ends in .extension.  Note that the period	 is  included  in  the
	      extension, which makes it impossible to specify an extension not
	      starting with a period, such as ~ for emacs backup files.	  This
	      form should be considered obsolete.

   ISO 6429 (ANSI) color sequences
       Most  color-capable  ASCII  terminals  today  use ISO 6429 (ANSI) color
       sequences, and many common terminals without color capability,  includ-
       ing  xterm and the widely used and cloned DEC VT100, will recognize ISO
       6429 color codes and harmlessly eliminate them from the output or  emu-
       late them.  ls uses ISO 6429 codes by default, assuming colorization is
       enabled.

       ISO 6429 color sequences are composed of sequences of numbers separated
       by semicolons.  The most common codes are:

	       0   to restore default color
	       1   for brighter colors
	       4   for underlined text
	       5   for flashing text
	      30   for black foreground
	      31   for red foreground
	      32   for green foreground
	      33   for yellow (or brown) foreground
	      34   for blue foreground
	      35   for purple foreground
	      36   for cyan foreground
	      37   for white (or gray) foreground
	      40   for black background
	      41   for red background
	      42   for green background
	      43   for yellow (or brown) background
	      44   for blue background
	      45   for purple background
	      46   for cyan background
	      47   for white (or gray) background

       Not all commands will work on all systems or display devices.

       ls uses the following defaults:

       NORMAL	 0	     Normal (nonfilename) text
       FILE	 0	     Regular file
       DIR	 32	     Directory
       LINK	 36	     Symbolic link

       ORPHAN	 undefined   Orphaned symbolic link
       MISSING	 undefined   Missing file
       FIFO	 31	     Named pipe (FIFO)
       SOCK	 33	     Socket
       BLK	 44;37	     Block device
       CHR	 44;37	     Character device
       EXEC	 35	     Executable file

       A  few terminal programs do not recognize the default properly.	If all
       text gets colorized after you do a directory listing, change the NORMAL
       and  FILE  codes	 to the numerical codes for your normal foreground and
       background colors.

   Other terminal types (advanced configuration)
       If you have a color-capable (or otherwise  highlighting)	 terminal  (or
       printer!) which uses a different set of codes, you can still generate a
       suitable setup.	To do so, you will have to use	the  LEFTCODE,	RIGHT-
       CODE, and ENDCODE definitions.

       When  writing  out  a  filename,	 ls  generates	the  following	output
       sequence: LEFTCODE typecode RIGHTCODE filename ENDCODE, where the type-
       code  is	 the  color sequence that depends on the type or name of file.
       If the ENDCODE is undefined, the	 sequence  LEFTCODE  NORMAL  RIGHTCODE
       will  be	 used  instead.	  The  purpose	of the left- and rightcodes is
       merely to reduce the amount of  typing  necessary  (and	to  hide  ugly
       escape codes away from the user).  If they are not appropriate for your
       terminal, you can eliminate them by specifying the  respective  keyword
       on a line by itself.

       NOTE:  If  the  ENDCODE	is  defined in the global section of the setup
       file, it cannot be undefined in	a  terminal-specific  section  of  the
       file.  This means any NORMAL definition will have no effect.  A differ-
       ent ENDCODE can, however, be  specified,	 which	would  have  the  same
       effect.

   Escape sequences
       To specify control- or blank characters in the color sequences or file-
       name  extensions,  either  C-style  \-escaped  notation	or  stty-style
       ^-notation  can	be  used.  The C-style notation includes the following
       characters:

	      \a      Bell (ASCII 7)
	      \b      Backspace (ASCII 8)
	      \e      Escape (ASCII 27)
	      \f      Form feed (ASCII 12)
	      \n      Newline (ASCII 10)
	      \r      Carriage Return (ASCII 13)
	      \t      Tab (ASCII 9)
	      \v      Vertical Tab (ASCII 11)
	      \?      Delete (ASCII 127)
	      \nnn    Any character (octal notation)
	      \xnnn   Any character (hexadecimal notation)
	      \_      Space
	      \\      Backslash (\)
	      \^      Caret (^)
	      \#      Hash mark (#)

       Note that escapes are necessary to enter a space, backslash, caret,  or
       any control character anywhere in the string, as well as a hash mark as
       the first character.

FILES
       /etc/DIR_COLORS
	      System-wide configuration file.

       ~/.dir_colors
	      Per-user configuration file.

       This page describes the dir_colors file format as used  in  the	fileu-
       tils-4.1 package; other versions may differ slightly.

NOTES
       The  default  LEFTCODE and RIGHTCODE definitions, which are used by ISO
       6429 terminals are:

	      LEFTCODE	  \e[
	      RIGHTCODE	  m

       The default ENDCODE is undefined.

SEE ALSO
       dircolors(1), ls(1), stty(1), xterm(1)

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 4.10 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
       description  of	the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
       latest	 version    of	  this	  page,	   can	   be	  found	    at
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



GNU				  2013-08-09			 DIR_COLORS(5)