The first column of the above tells you what the "permissions" are.
d = directory
r = read
w = write
x = execute
now this is how to read drwxrwxrwx
file type owner (you) permissions group perms other perms
d rwx rwx rwx
Lets say I am another guy (I fall under others) and I have r-x this means that I only have read and execute permiossions. If I have --- means that I have no permissions. So whenever someone doesnt have a permiossion to do something the "-" appears where that permission would exist.
The 3rd column: Indicates the user who created that document
The 4th column: Indicates that user's group
The 6th, 7th and 8th columns indicate the date and time that file was last modified
and the 9th column indicates the file name
OK! Information overload, right ? well, this was a brief explantation, we'll take it easy from now on, I promise
----
Now the last LS flag for this HOW-TO, the -F flag
Code:
[admiralty:~] admiral% ls -F
Desktop/ Library/ Music/ Public/ admiralty/
Documents/ Movies/ Pictures/ Sites/
[admiralty:~] admiral%
The -F flag tells the LS command to also tell you what kind of files exist. Directories are denoted with a slash, so Movie/ is a folder called movies.
Now you know what is in your directory and to somewhat decipher what it is.