ls -qaltr # list directory in chronological order, most recent files at end of list

I find it very handy to be able to quickly see the most recently modified/created files in a directory. Note that the "q" option will reveal any files with non-printable characters in their filename.

Sample Output

[mpb@localhost ~]$ ls -qaltr /tmp
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 Jan 12 09:12 ../
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root   40 Feb 25 13:29 .XIM-unix/
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root   40 Feb 25 13:29 .Test-unix/
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root   40 Feb 25 13:29 .font-unix/
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  157 Feb 25 13:29 ddebug.log
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root   40 Feb 25 13:29 systemd-private-BsJC1l/
-r--r--r--  1 root root   11 Feb 25 13:29 .X0-lock
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root   60 Feb 25 13:29 .X11-unix/
drwx------  2 root root   40 Feb 25 13:29 pulse-PKdhtXMmr18n/
drwx------  2 root root   60 Feb 25 13:29 gpg-JYxEia/
drwx------  2 root root   60 Feb 25 13:29 gpg-9EimL6/
drwx------  2 mpb  mpb    60 Feb 25 13:29 gpg-0tXbPf/
-rw-------  1 mpb  mpb     0 Feb 25 13:29 xerr-mpb-:0
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root   40 Feb 25 13:29 systemd-private-Agvb8o/
drwx------  2 mpb  mpb    60 Feb 25 13:29 .esd-10001/
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root   60 Feb 25 13:29 .ICE-unix/
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root   40 Feb 25 13:29 systemd-private-q2rBI6/
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root   40 Feb 25 13:30 systemd-private-KBB9hs/
srwxr-xr-x  1 root root    0 Feb 25 13:30 wpa_ctrl_3263-0=
drwx------  2 root root   60 Feb 25 13:31 gpg-dVH2Yz/
drwx------  2 mpb  mpb    80 Feb 25 13:42 CRX_75DAF8CB7768/
drwx------  2 mpb  mpb    80 Feb 25 14:00 .com.google.Chrome.nczGuc/
-rw-rw-r--  1 mpb  mpb     0 Feb 25 14:01 .google-talk-plugin-mpb.lock
drwxrwxrwt  2 root root   60 Feb 25 14:09 systemd-private-Iu9cH6/
drwxrwxrwt 20 root root  500 Feb 25 14:12 ./

By: mpb

2013-02-25 14:14:44

at ls

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What Others Think

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yeneba6574 · 15 weeks ago

What do you think?

Any thoughts on this command? Does it work on your machine? Can you do the same thing with only 14 characters?

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