Search code examples
linuxls

Why ls -Q give output as "Z\\1" if the file name is 'Z\1'?

$ touch "z\1"
$ ls -Q
"z\\1"

Why "ls -Q" give output as "z\\1" if the file name is 'z\1'?

The output is coming with double slash in between 'z' and '1'.

Solution

  • The -Q-Switch (also --quote-names) will quote the names. How this quoting is done is defined by the --quoting-style-Switch.

    Snippet from the man page:

    --quoting-style=WORD
    use quoting style WORD for entry names: literal, locale, shell, shell-always, c, escape

    This will lead to the following result:

    • ls --quoting-style=literal "z\1" => z\1
    • ls --quoting-style=locale "z\1" => ‘z\\1’
    • ls --quoting-style=shell "z\1" => 'z\1'
    • ls --quoting-style=shell-always "z\1" => 'z\1'
    • ls --quoting-style=c "z\1" => "z\\1"
    • ls --quoting-style=escape "z\1" => z\\1

    I can't tell you what the default is. But it have to be one of these locale, c, escape