On my console the color for directories is such a blue, that it is hard to read on a dark background.
How can I change the color definitions for ls?
To change your directory colors, open up your ~/.bashrc file with your editor
nano ~/.bashrc
and make the following entry at the end of the file:
LS_COLORS=$LS_COLORS:'di=0;35:' ; export LS_COLORS
Some nice color choices (in this case 0;35 it is purple) are:
Blue = 34
Green = 32
Light Green = 1;32
Cyan = 36
Red = 31
Purple = 35
Brown = 33
Yellow = 1;33
Bold White = 1;37
Light Grey = 0;37
Black = 30
Dark Grey= 1;30
The first number is the style (1=bold), followed by a semicolon, and then the actual number of the color, possible styles (effects) are:
0 = default colour
1 = bold
4 = underlined
5 = flashing text (disabled on some terminals)
7 = reverse field (exchange foreground and background color)
8 = concealed (invisible)
The possible backgrounds:
40 = black background
41 = red background
42 = green background
43 = orange background
44 = blue background
45 = purple background
46 = cyan background
47 = grey background
100 = dark grey background
101 = light red background
102 = light green background
103 = yellow background
104 = light blue background
105 = light purple background
106 = turquoise background
107 = white background
All possible colors:
30 = black
31 = red
32 = green
33 = orange
34 = blue
35 = purple
36 = cyan
37 = grey
90 = dark grey
91 = light red
92 = light green
93 = yellow
94 = light blue
95 = light purple
96 = turquoise
97 = white
These can even be combined, so that a parameter like:
di=1;4;31;42
in your LS_COLORS variable would make directories appear in bold underlined red text with a green background!
To test all these colors and styles in your terminal, you can use one of:
for i in 00{2..8} {0{3,4,9},10}{0..7}
do echo -e "$i e[0;${i}mSubdermatoglyphic texte[00m e[1;${i}mSubdermatoglyphic texte[00m"
done
for i in 00{2..8} {0{3,4,9},10}{0..7}
do for j in 0 1
do echo -e "$j;$i e[$j;${i}mSubdermatoglyphic texte[00m"
done
done
You can also change other kinds of files when using the ls command by defining each kind with:
bd = (BLOCK, BLK) Block device (buffered) special file
cd = (CHAR, CHR) Character device (unbuffered) special file
di = (DIR) Directory
do = (DOOR) [Door][1]
ex = (EXEC) Executable file (ie. has 'x' set in permissions)
fi = (FILE) Normal file
ln = (SYMLINK, LINK, LNK) Symbolic link. If you set this to ‘target’ instead of a numerical value, the color is as for the file pointed to.
mi = (MISSING) Non-existent file pointed to by a symbolic link (visible when you type ls -l)
no = (NORMAL, NORM) Normal (non-filename) text. Global default, although everything should be something
or = (ORPHAN) Symbolic link pointing to an orphaned non-existent file
ow = (OTHER_WRITABLE) Directory that is other-writable (o+w) and not sticky
pi = (FIFO, PIPE) Named pipe (fifo file)
sg = (SETGID) File that is setgid (g+s)
so = (SOCK) Socket file
st = (STICKY) Directory with the sticky bit set (+t) and not other-writable
su = (SETUID) File that is setuid (u+s)
tw = (STICKY_OTHER_WRITABLE) Directory that is sticky and other-writable (+t,o+w)
*.extension = Every file using this extension e.g. *.rpm = files with the ending .rpm
A more complete list is available at Bigsoft - Configuring LS_COLORS.
On some distributions, you might also want to change the background color for ow "(OTHER_WRITABLE) whose default is non-readable" for example to non-bold blue text on green background.
You could use for instance LS_COLORS="$LS_COLORS:di=1;33" at the end of your .bashrc file, to get a nice readable bold orange text on black background.
After you alter your .bashrc file, to put the changes in effect you will have to restart your shell or run source ~/.bashrc.
Note: You can combine more commands with a colon, for example
LS_COLORS=$LS_COLORS:'di=1;33:ln=36' ; export LS_COLORS; ls
Source:
