DIR_COLORS(5)							 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.	Please note that dircolors does not verify the
	      validity of these options.

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

       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.

       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).

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

       DOOR color-sequence
	      (Supported since file-utils 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.

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

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

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

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

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

       *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



 back to command reference

       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 defaaults:

	 NORMAL	  0	  Normal (non-filename) text
	 FILE	  0	  Regular file
	 DIR	  32	  Directory
	 LINK	  36	  Symbolic link
	 ORPHAN	  undefined	  Orphanned 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 (#)

       Please  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.

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)

FILES
       /etc/DIR_COLORS
	      System-wide configuration file.

       ~/.dir_colors
	      Per-user configuration file.

NOTES
       This page describes the dir_colors file format as used  in  the	fileu-
       tils-4.1 package; other versions may differ slightly.  Mail corrections
       and additions to aeb@cwi.nl.  Report bugs in the program to  fileutils-
       bugs@gnu.ai.mit.edu.



GNU fileutils 4.1		  2001-12-26			 DIR_COLORS(5)