Unix – How to show file sizes with commas when getting a directory listing with ‘ls -l’

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You can do 'ls -l' to get a detailed directory listing like this:

-rw-rw-rw-  1 alice themonkeys 1159995999 2008-08-20 07:01 foo.log
-rw-rw-rw-  1 bob   bob         244251992 2008-08-20 05:30 bar.txt

But notice how you have to slide your finger along the screen to figure out the order of magnitude of those file sizes.

What's a good way to add commas to the file sizes in the directory listing, like this:

-rw-rw-rw-  1 alice themonkeys 1,159,995,999 2008-08-20 07:01 foo.log
-rw-rw-rw-  1 bob   bob          244,251,992 2008-08-20 05:30 bar.txt

Best Solution

I don't think 'ls' has exactly that capability. If you are looking for readability, 'ls -lh' will give you file sizes that are easier for humans to parse.

-rw-rw-rw-  1 alice themonkeys 1.2G 2008-08-20 07:01 foo.log
-rw-rw-rw-  1 bob   bob        244M 2008-08-20 05:30 bar.txt

Related Solutions

Bash – How to check if a directory exists in a Bash shell script

To check if a directory exists in a shell script, you can use the following:

if [ -d "$DIRECTORY" ]; then
  # Control will enter here if $DIRECTORY exists.
fi

Or to check if a directory doesn't exist:

if [ ! -d "$DIRECTORY" ]; then
  # Control will enter here if $DIRECTORY doesn't exist.
fi

However, as Jon Ericson points out, subsequent commands may not work as intended if you do not take into account that a symbolic link to a directory will also pass this check. E.g. running this:

ln -s "$ACTUAL_DIR" "$SYMLINK"
if [ -d "$SYMLINK" ]; then 
  rmdir "$SYMLINK" 
fi

Will produce the error message:

rmdir: failed to remove `symlink': Not a directory

So symbolic links may have to be treated differently, if subsequent commands expect directories:

if [ -d "$LINK_OR_DIR" ]; then 
  if [ -L "$LINK_OR_DIR" ]; then
    # It is a symlink!
    # Symbolic link specific commands go here.
    rm "$LINK_OR_DIR"
  else
    # It's a directory!
    # Directory command goes here.
    rmdir "$LINK_OR_DIR"
  fi
fi

Take particular note of the double-quotes used to wrap the variables. The reason for this is explained by 8jean in another answer.

If the variables contain spaces or other unusual characters it will probably cause the script to fail.

Unix – How to extract a predetermined range of lines from a text file on Unix

sed -n '16224,16482p;16483q' filename > newfile

From the sed manual:

p - Print out the pattern space (to the standard output). This command is usually only used in conjunction with the -n command-line option.

n - If auto-print is not disabled, print the pattern space, then, regardless, replace the pattern space with the next line of input. If there is no more input then sed exits without processing any more commands.

q - Exit sed without processing any more commands or input. Note that the current pattern space is printed if auto-print is not disabled with the -n option.

and

Addresses in a sed script can be in any of the following forms:

number Specifying a line number will match only that line in the input.

An address range can be specified by specifying two addresses separated by a comma (,). An address range matches lines starting from where the first address matches, and continues until the second address matches (inclusively).

Best Solution

Related Solutions

Bash – How to check if a directory exists in a Bash shell script

Unix – How to extract a predetermined range of lines from a text file on Unix

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