lft(1) Release 1 lft(1)
Linux System Manual Linux System Manual
10Aug97
NAME
lft - list file types and
SYNOPSIS
lft [OPTIONS] [PATH] [FILE(S)]
DESCRIPTION
lft , list file types and summarize statistics. This program was
originally written out of frustration of having to use three different
programs to get simple information such as, how many *.c files do I
have, where are they and how much space do they occupy. It has since
been expanded to include numerous options to aid in locating and
displaying files.
The program is similar to ls in that it has options to display the
files found in a short format (name only), long format (name plus
other useful information), dereference symbolic links, sort the output
and display files beginning with '.' among other things. It is similar
to du in that it will display summary information for whatever it
finds and similar to find in that it does a real recursive search.
By default the program displays all files found grouped according to
type. This can be reduced to specific files and/or types by giving a
file specification and/or file type for the search.
Note: This program only searches a single file system at a time.
The program also makes use of an environment variable that allows you
to customize the programs default behavior.
OPTIONS
Long options and/or their arguments may be abbreviated as long as they
remain unique.
-a, --all
include names starting with '.' in search.
Normally, files starting with a '.' are ignored because they are
(usually) needed by the system and/or some program for it to work
properly (which means you shouldn't mess with them, unless you
know what your doing). Their existence and/or sizes are usually
irrelevent.
Note: The directories '.' and '..' are treated as hard links by
this program. They are not displayed as directories, as you
might expect.
- 1 - Formatted: October 28, 2025
lft(1) Release 1 lft(1)
Linux System Manual Linux System Manual
10Aug97
-e, --empty-dir
list empty directories during recursive search.
If this option is selected the full path to the directory will be
displayed with "[EMPTY]" following it.
-f, --find
do a simple recursive search.
If output is not directed to a terminal, this produces output
suitable for input to xargs; otherwise it produces a simple
listing of files found.
Note: If top-down search direction is forced, only the topmost
directory is searched.
-k, --kilobytes
display blocks in 1k byte blocks.
This is the default unless the environment variable
POSIXLY_CORRECT exists.
-l, --long-format
list names in long format.
-L, --dereference
dereference symbolic links.
Display the link and where it points.
-n, --names
list names of files found.
The file names of the type(s) specified will be listed by type.
-o, --only-dot-files
only search for files that start with '.'.
-p, --posix-block-size
display blocks in 512 byte blocks.
This is the default if the environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT
exists.
-r, --reverse
reverse order while sorting.
-R, --recurse[=OPTION]
- 2 - Formatted: October 28, 2025
lft(1) Release 1 lft(1)
Linux System Manual Linux System Manual
10Aug97
recursive search [=top-down or bottom-up].
If OPTION is given, it forces search direction.
Note: If top-down is forced and the command line contains a file
specification 'lft' will short-circuit and only search the
topmost directory (this behavior is similar to the program ls.)
-v, --vertical
display filenames vertically.
--color
display in color if a tty.
--debug[=OPTION]
OPTION is none, all or recursive
Debug is only available if lft was built with the debug option.
When installing, run configure with the switch "--enable-debug"
to allow debugging and to activate this option (the argument
OPTION Turns on function tracing.)
--help
display help information and exit.
--page
display results a page at a time.
At the prompt Continue?. Entering 'y' + 'cr' or 'cr' (return)
continues, anything else terminates the program.
--sort[=OPTION]
OPTION is fullname, basename, extension, size, slack or none
--types=TYPES
search for: (all if option not used)
directory, executable, regular, hard-link, character-special,
block-special, symbolic-link, orphan-link, multiplex, named-pipe,
socket, unknown.
Use this option to limit the search to only those file types
given. For example, 'lft --types=dir' , will only search for
directories. If you want to search for more than one file type
the argument must be in the form of a comma separated list. If
you wanted to search for only directories, symbolic links and
- 3 - Formatted: October 28, 2025
lft(1) Release 1 lft(1)
Linux System Manual Linux System Manual
10Aug97
sockets you would enter 'lft --types=directory,symbolic-
link,socket'
Note: The file types "executable" and "unknown" don't really
exist, an executable file is a file with the execute bit(s) set
and an unknown file is simply a file that doesn't fit any of the
other catagories. However they, and any other pseudo file types,
are considered to be distinct file types for the purposes of this
program. Also all of the file types may not be available on your
system. See the programs help message for a definitive list.
--version
display version information and exit.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE
..._OPTIONS="..."
Replace the elipses (from left to right) by the program name and the
options you want in the environment variable.
To change the default behavior of 'lft'. The environment variable
associated with it must be named LFT_OPTIONS. If you change the name
of the program to 'foobar' then the environment variable must be named
FOOBAR_OPTIONS. This allows you to have multiple versions of this
program; Each with a different default behavior. Options placed in
the environment variable must be seperated by at least one '-', ';' or
' '.
Only long options (those preceeded by '--') may be placed in the
environment variable.
EXAMPLES
To add color to 'lft' create the following environment variable:
LFT_OPTIONS="color"
To add color, pagination and sort by extension to 'foobar' create the
following environment variable:
FOOBAR_OPTIONS="color page sort=ext"
or
FOOBAR_OPTIONS="color;page;sort=ext"
or
FOOBAR_OPTIONS="color-page-sort=ext"
- 4 - Formatted: October 28, 2025
lft(1) Release 1 lft(1)
Linux System Manual Linux System Manual
10Aug97
The following is also allowed (though not recommended):
FOOBAR_OPTIONS="--colo ;-;; page;- names-;-;-;-;kilo"
An option may be abbreviated as long as it remains unique.
OUTPUT EXAMPLES
Note:
Allocated
The number of blocks used by the filesystem to contain this/these
file(s).
Occupied
The number of blocks actually used by the file(s).
Used The amount of space the file(s) occupy, expressed in kilobytes,
megabytes or gigabytes.
Slack
The difference between 'Used' and 'Allocated' expressed as a
percentage.
Typing "lft /usr" (without the quotes) on a system that does not have
the environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT produces the following:
/usr:
File type/Total Found Allocated Occupied Used Slack
Directory 20 38 38 38.00K 0.0%
Executable 1 6 6 5.34K 11.1%
Regular 1 5 5 4.56K 8.7%
Symbolic link 7 0 0 0.00K 0.0%
Directory Total 29 49 48 47.90K 2.2%
Typing "lft /usr" (without the quotes) on a system that has the
environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT produces the following:
/usr:
File type/Total Found Allocated Occupied Used Slack
Directory 20 76 76 38.00K 0.0%
Executable 1 12 11 5.34K 11.1%
Regular 1 10 10 4.56K 8.7%
Symbolic link 7 0 0 0.00K 0.0%
Directory Total 29 98 96 47.90K 2.2%
Typing "lft -n /usr" (without the quotes) on a system that has the
- 5 - Formatted: October 28, 2025
lft(1) Release 1 lft(1)
Linux System Manual Linux System Manual
10Aug97
the environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT produces the following:
/usr:
Directory:
X11R6 bin dict doc
etc games i486-gnu i486-linux
i486-linuxaout include info lib
libexec local man movemail-src
openwin sbin share src
Executable:
movemail
Regular:
XKeysymDB
Symbolic link:
Info X11 X386 adm
preserve spool tmp
File type/Total Found Allocated Occupied Used Slack
Directory 20 76 76 38.00K 0.0%
Executable 1 12 11 5.34K 11.1%
Regular 1 10 10 4.56K 8.7%
Symbolic link 7 0 0 0.00K 0.0%
Directory Total 29 98 96 47.90K 2.2%
FILES
SEE ALSO
du, ls
BUGS
On BSD systems, block sizes reported are half the correct values for
files that are NFS-mounted from HP-UX systems. On HP-UX systems,
block sizes reported are twice the correct values for files that are
NFS-mounted from BSD systems. This is due to a flaw in HP-UX; the
programs ls and du are also affected.
COPYING
This manual and the software described by this manual is covered by
the GNU General Public License, Version 2, June 1991, issued by :
Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
675 Mass Ave,
- 6 - Formatted: October 28, 2025
lft(1) Release 1 lft(1)
Linux System Manual Linux System Manual
10Aug97
Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions, except that this permission notice may be included in
translation instead of in the original English.
MANUAL AUTHOR
Jim Jackson
School of Computer Studies
University of Leeds The University of Leeds
Leeds, LS2 9JT
UK
Email: jj@scs.leeds.ac.uk
- 7 - Formatted: October 28, 2025
