Provided by: manpages_3.54-1ubuntu1_all bug

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 environment 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 section 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 terminal-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 terminal (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 leading minus sign.  Note that dircolors  does  not  verify  the
              validity 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  a  other-writable  directory  with the executable
              attribute set.

              Synonym: OWT.

       OTHER_WRITABLE color-sequence
              Specifies the color used for a  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, including xterm and the widely used and cloned
       DEC VT100, will recognize ISO 6429 color codes and  harmlessly  eliminate  them  from  the
       output  or  emulate  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, RIGHTCODE, and ENDCODE definitions.

       When writing out a filename, ls generates the following output sequence: LEFTCODE typecode
       RIGHTCODE filename ENDCODE, where the typecode 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 different ENDCODE can, however, be specified, which would have the
       same effect.

   Escape sequences
       To specify control- or blank characters in the color  sequences  or  filename  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 fileutils-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.

FILES

       /etc/DIR_COLORS
              (Slackware, SuSE and RedHat only; ignored by GNU  dircolors(1)  and  thus  Debian.)
              System-wide configuration file.

       ~/.dir_colors
              (Slackware,  SuSE  and  RedHat  only; ignored by GNU dircolors(1) and thus Debian.)
              Per-user configuration file.

SEE ALSO

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

COLOPHON

       This page is part of release 3.54 of the Linux man-pages project.  A  description  of  the
       project,     and    information    about    reporting    bugs,    can    be    found    at
       http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.