ls command oddity












2















I teach an Intro to UNIX/Linux course at a local college and one of my students ask the following question:



Why are some of the files in my directory colored white and others are gray? Are the white ones the ones I created today and the gray are existing files?



As I looked into this I first thought the answer would be in the LS_COLORS variable but further investigation revealed that the color listings were different when using the '-l' switch verses the '-al' switch with the ls command. See the following screen shots:



using ls -l the file named '3' shows as white



using the -al switch the same file shows a gray



using ls -l the file named '3' shows as white but using the -al switch the same file shows a gray.



Is this a bug in ls or does anyone know why this is happening?










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    2















    I teach an Intro to UNIX/Linux course at a local college and one of my students ask the following question:



    Why are some of the files in my directory colored white and others are gray? Are the white ones the ones I created today and the gray are existing files?



    As I looked into this I first thought the answer would be in the LS_COLORS variable but further investigation revealed that the color listings were different when using the '-l' switch verses the '-al' switch with the ls command. See the following screen shots:



    using ls -l the file named '3' shows as white



    using the -al switch the same file shows a gray



    using ls -l the file named '3' shows as white but using the -al switch the same file shows a gray.



    Is this a bug in ls or does anyone know why this is happening?










    share|improve this question









    New contributor




    Bill R is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.























      2












      2








      2








      I teach an Intro to UNIX/Linux course at a local college and one of my students ask the following question:



      Why are some of the files in my directory colored white and others are gray? Are the white ones the ones I created today and the gray are existing files?



      As I looked into this I first thought the answer would be in the LS_COLORS variable but further investigation revealed that the color listings were different when using the '-l' switch verses the '-al' switch with the ls command. See the following screen shots:



      using ls -l the file named '3' shows as white



      using the -al switch the same file shows a gray



      using ls -l the file named '3' shows as white but using the -al switch the same file shows a gray.



      Is this a bug in ls or does anyone know why this is happening?










      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Bill R is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.












      I teach an Intro to UNIX/Linux course at a local college and one of my students ask the following question:



      Why are some of the files in my directory colored white and others are gray? Are the white ones the ones I created today and the gray are existing files?



      As I looked into this I first thought the answer would be in the LS_COLORS variable but further investigation revealed that the color listings were different when using the '-l' switch verses the '-al' switch with the ls command. See the following screen shots:



      using ls -l the file named '3' shows as white



      using the -al switch the same file shows a gray



      using ls -l the file named '3' shows as white but using the -al switch the same file shows a gray.



      Is this a bug in ls or does anyone know why this is happening?







      linux command-line ls colors






      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Bill R is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      share|improve this question









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      Bill R is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      share|improve this question




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      edited 45 mins ago









      Jeff Schaller

      41.2k1056131




      41.2k1056131






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      asked 1 hour ago









      Bill RBill R

      111




      111




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      New contributor





      Bill R is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






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          It looks as if your prompt-string ($PS1) is setting the bold attribute on characters to make the colors nicer, and not unsetting it. The output from ls doesn't know about this, and does unset bold. So after the first color output of ls, everything looks dimmer.






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          • Oh, that's a good catch!

            – Stephen Harris
            51 mins ago











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          1 Answer
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          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          6














          It looks as if your prompt-string ($PS1) is setting the bold attribute on characters to make the colors nicer, and not unsetting it. The output from ls doesn't know about this, and does unset bold. So after the first color output of ls, everything looks dimmer.






          share|improve this answer
























          • Oh, that's a good catch!

            – Stephen Harris
            51 mins ago
















          6














          It looks as if your prompt-string ($PS1) is setting the bold attribute on characters to make the colors nicer, and not unsetting it. The output from ls doesn't know about this, and does unset bold. So after the first color output of ls, everything looks dimmer.






          share|improve this answer
























          • Oh, that's a good catch!

            – Stephen Harris
            51 mins ago














          6












          6








          6







          It looks as if your prompt-string ($PS1) is setting the bold attribute on characters to make the colors nicer, and not unsetting it. The output from ls doesn't know about this, and does unset bold. So after the first color output of ls, everything looks dimmer.






          share|improve this answer













          It looks as if your prompt-string ($PS1) is setting the bold attribute on characters to make the colors nicer, and not unsetting it. The output from ls doesn't know about this, and does unset bold. So after the first color output of ls, everything looks dimmer.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 53 mins ago









          Thomas DickeyThomas Dickey

          52.9k597171




          52.9k597171













          • Oh, that's a good catch!

            – Stephen Harris
            51 mins ago



















          • Oh, that's a good catch!

            – Stephen Harris
            51 mins ago

















          Oh, that's a good catch!

          – Stephen Harris
          51 mins ago





          Oh, that's a good catch!

          – Stephen Harris
          51 mins ago










          Bill R is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










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