LS_COLORS & dircolors

Customize file type highlights for the ls command.

The shell environment variable LS_COLORS is used to define the colors displayed when listing file types with the ls command. It is configured via the dircolors command, which typically runs during your shell’s startup.

There are two ways to modify the file type display colors, i.e. the LS_COLORS environment variable:

  1. Execute dircolors using a file that sets the colors.
  2. Edit LS_COLORS directly.

Set LS_COLORS with dircolors

This section explains how to set file type colors using the dircolors command.

TL;DR

  1. Save a .dircolors file with your preferred coloring per file type.

  2. Insert the following commands in your .bashrc or .bash_profile:

    eval `dircolors -b path/to/your/.dircolors/file`
alias ls='ls --color=auto'

Sample .dircolors File

For reference, here is my .dircolors file.

Default dircolors

You can see the default file type colors by executing the following command.

dircolors -p

Summarized output:

# Configuration file for dircolors, a utility to help you set the
# LS_COLORS environment variable used by GNU ls with the --color option.
...
#.cmd 01;32 # executables (bright green)
#.exe 01;32
#.com 01;32
#.btm 01;32
#.bat 01;32
...

Change LS_COLORS Using dircolors

  1. Save the output of dircolors -p to a file. In this example we are naming the file .dircolors-mod, but you can name your file whatever you’d like.

    dircolors -p > ~/.dircolors-mod

  2. Edit .dircolors-mod using a preferred text editor.

    gedit ~/.dircolors-mod

  3. Execute

    # This syntax works using bash and zsh
eval `dircolors -b ~/.dircolors-mod`

Test dircolors Output

Any modifications made to .dircolors-mod will be reflected in LS_COLORS. To test:

  1. Add the following text to the end of .dircolors-mod

    .randomfiletype 01;35

  2. Execute

    eval `dircolors -b ~/.dircolors-mod`

  3. Print LS_COLORS to the screen.

    echo $LS_COLORS

    Summarized sample output:

    s=0:di=01;34:ln=01;36:mh=00:pi=40;33
...
*.randomfiletype=01;35:

  4. Notice that the value *.randomfiletype=01;35 is now shown at the end of the LS_COLORS printout.

  5. Save a file with the name .randomfiletype and run the command

    # Use the -la to display hidden files
ls -la --color=auto

    The file named .randomfiletype should be displayed in the color magenta, or whatever you have ANSI color 5 set to. See this page for more information about ANSI color codes.

Set LS_COLORS Directly

Set the environment variable LS_COLORS using the following format:

export LS_COLORS="*.ext0=<attr>;<color>:*.ext1=<attr>;<color>"

Where

<attr>    : Attribute code, listed below
<color>   : Color code, listed below
ext0, ext1: File extensions

Note that the color codes correspond with the ANSI 16 color codes as described here.

Add to .bashrc or .bash_profile

Once you decide which file types to color, you can save your definition of LS_COLORS to your .bashrc or .bash_profile.

Note: If you are running zsh as your environment, make sure you are not overwriting theses colors in your .zshrc or theme file.

Attribute Codes

Code Attribute
00 none
01 bold
04 underscore
05 blink
07 reverse
08 concealed

Foreground Text Color Codes

Code Color
30 black
31 red
32 green
33 yellow
34 blue
35 magenta
36 cyan
37 white

Background Color Codes

Code Color
40 black
41 red
42 green
43 yellow
44 blue
45 magenta
46 cyan
47 white

tmux Caveat

tmux is a terminal multiplexer that allows you to create and manage multiple panes within a single window. It’s a neat way to streamline your workflow.

Using tmux can affect your environment, particularly how colors are displayed. You may need to set the TERM environment variable explicitly to ensure colors render correctly. See this page for more information.