TREE(1)TREE(1)NAME
tree - list contents of directories in a tree-like format.
SYNOPSIS
tree [-acdfghilnpqrstuvxACDFQNSUX] [-L level [-R]] [-H baseHREF] [-T
title] [-o filename] [--nolinks] [-P pattern] [-I pattern] [--inodes]
[--device] [--noreport] [--dirsfirst] [--filesfirst] [--version]
[--help] [--filelimit #] [--si] [--prune] [--du] [--timefmt format]
[directory ...]
DESCRIPTION
Tree is a recursive directory listing program that produces a depth
indented listing of files, which is colorized ala dircolors if the
LS_COLORS environment variable is set and output is to tty. With no
arguments, tree lists the files in the current directory. When direc‐
tory arguments are given, tree lists all the files and/or directories
found in the given directories each in turn. Upon completion of list‐
ing all files/directories found, tree returns the total number of files
and/or directories listed.
By default, when a symbolic link is encountered, the path that the sym‐
bolic link refers to is printed after the name of the link in the for‐
mat:
name -> real-path
If the `-l' option is given and the symbolic link refers to an actual
directory, then tree will follow the path of the symbolic link as if it
were a real directory.
OPTIONS
Tree understands the following command line switches:
LISTING OPTIONS-a All files are printed. By default tree does not print hidden
files (those beginning with a dot `.'). In no event does tree
print the file system constructs `.' (current directory) and
`..' (previous directory).
-d List directories only.
-l Follows symbolic links if they point to directories, as if they
were directories. Symbolic links that will result in recursion
are avoided when detected.
-f Prints the full path prefix for each file.
-x Stay on the current file-system only. Ala find -xdev.
-L level
Max display depth of the directory tree.
-R Recursively cross down the tree each level directories (see -L
option), and at each of them execute tree again adding `-o
00Tree.html' as a new option.
-P pattern
List only those files that match the wild-card pattern. Note:
you must use the -a option to also consider those files begin‐
ning with a dot `.' for matching. Valid wildcard operators are
`*' (any zero or more characters), `?' (any single character),
`[...]' (any single character listed between brackets (optional
- (dash) for character range may be used: ex: [A-Z]), and
`[^...]' (any single character not listed in brackets) and `|'
separates alternate patterns.
-I pattern
Do not list those files that match the wild-card pattern.
--prune
Makes tree prune empty directories from the output, useful when
used in conjunction with -P or -I. See BUGS AND NOTES below for
more information on this option.
--noreport
Omits printing of the file and directory report at the end of
the tree listing.
--charset charset
Set the character set to use when outputting HTML and for line
drawing.
--filelimit #
Do not descend directories that contain more than # entries.
--timefmt format
Prints (implies -D) and formats the date according to the format
string which uses the strftime(3) syntax.
-o filename
Send output to filename.
FILE OPTIONS-q Print non-printable characters in filenames as question marks
instead of the default.
-N Print non-printable characters as is instead of as escaped octal
numbers.
-Q Quote the names of files in double quotes.
-p Print the file type and permissions for each file (as per ls
-l).
-u Print the username, or UID # if no username is available, of the
file.
-g Print the group name, or GID # if no group name is available, of
the file.
-s Print the size of each file in bytes along with the name.
-h Print the size of each file but in a more human readable way,
e.g. appending a size letter for kilobytes (K), megabytes (M),
gigabytes (G), terabytes (T), petabytes (P) and exabytes (E).
--si Like -h but use SI units (powers of 1000) instead.
--du For each directory report its size as the accumulation of sizes
of all its files and sub-directories (and their files, and so
on). The total amount of used space is also given in the final
report (like the 'du -c' command.) This option requires tree to
read the entire directory tree before emitting it, see BUGS AND
NOTES below. Implies -s.
-D Print the date of the last modification time or if -c is used,
the last status change time for the file listed.
-F Append a `/' for directories, a `=' for socket files, a `*' for
executable files, a `>' for doors (Solaris) and a `|' for
FIFO's, as per ls -F
--inodes
Prints the inode number of the file or directory
--device
Prints the device number to which the file or directory belongs
SORTING OPTIONS-v Sort the output by version.
-r Sort the output in reverse alphabetic order.
-t Sort the output by last modification time instead of alphabeti‐
cally.
-c Sort the output by last status change instead of alphabetically.
Modifies the -D option (if used) to print the last status change
instead of modification time.
-U Do not sort. Lists files in directory order. Disables --dirs‐
first and --filesfirst.
--dirsfirst
List directories before files. This is a meta-sort that alters
the above sorts. This option is disabled when -U is used.
--filesfirst
List files before directories. This is a meta-sort that alters
the above sorts. This option is disabled when -U is used.
GRAPHICS OPTIONS-i Makes tree not print the indentation lines, useful when used in
conjunction with the -f option.
-A Turn on ANSI line graphics hack when printing the indentation
lines.
-S Turn on ASCII line graphics (useful when using Linux console
mode fonts). This option is now equivalent to `--charset=IBM437'
and may eventually be depreciated.
-n Turn colorization off always, over-ridden by the -C option.
-C Turn colorization on always, using built-in color defaults if
the LS_COLORS environment variable is not set. Useful to col‐
orize output to a pipe.
XML/HTML OPTIONS
-X Turn on XML output. Outputs the directory tree as an XML format‐
ted file.
-H baseHREF
Turn on HTML output, including HTTP references. Useful for ftp
sites. baseHREF gives the base ftp location when using HTML
output. That is, the local directory may be `/local/ftp/pub',
but it must be referenced as `ftp://hostname.organiza‐
tion.domain/pub' (baseHREF should be `ftp://hostname.organiza‐
tion.domain'). Hint: don't use ANSI lines with this option, and
don't give more than one directory in the directory list. If you
wish to use colors via CCS style-sheet, use the -C option in
addition to this option to force color output.
-T title
Sets the title and H1 header string in HTML output mode.
--nolinks
Turns off hyperlinks in HTML output.
MISC OPTIONS--help Outputs a verbose usage listing.
--version
Outputs the version of tree.
FILES
/etc/DIR_COLORS System color database.
~/.dircolors Users color database.
ENVIRONMENT
LS_COLORS Color information created by dircolors
TREE_COLORS Uses this for color information over LS_COLORS if it is
set.
TREE_CHARSET Character set for tree to use in HTML mode.
LC_CTYPE Locale for filename output.
LC_TIME Locale for timefmt output, see strftime(3).
TZ Timezone for timefmt output, see strftime(3).
AUTHOR
Steve Baker (ice@mama.indstate.edu)
HTML output hacked by Francesc Rocher (rocher@econ.udg.es)
Charsets and OS/2 support by Kyosuke Tokoro (NBG01720@nifty.ne.jp)
BUGS AND NOTES
Tree does not prune "empty" directories when the -P and -I options are
used by default. Use the --prune option.
The -h and --si options round to the nearest whole number unlike the ls
implementations which rounds up always.
Pruning files and directories with the -I, -P and --filelimit options
will lead to incorrect file/directory count reports.
The --prune and --du options cause tree to accumulate the entire tree
in memory before emitting it. For large directory trees this can cause
a significant delay in output and the use of large amounts of memory.
The timefmt expansion buffer is limited to a ridiculously large 255
characters. Output of time strings longer than this will be undefined,
but are guaranteed to not exceed 255 characters.
XML trees are not colored, which is a bit of a shame.
Probably more.
SEE ALSOdircolors(1), ls(1), find(1), du(1), strftime(3)Tree 1.6.0TREE(1)