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Redirecting ls command to file dose not produce the same result

ls dir

screen result:

file_a file_b file_c

but

ls dir > ls.txt

ls.txt content:

file_a
file_b
file_c

why?

Solution

  • ls dir: List the files in the working directory. [1]

    ls dir > ls.txt: Most command line programs that display their results do so by sending their results to a facility called standard output. By default, standard output directs its contents to the display. To redirect standard output to a file, the ">" character is used. In this example, the ls command is executed and the results are written in a file named ls.txt. Since the output of ls was redirected to the file, no results appear on the display.[2]

    The result of ls dir is written in short format this is why it appears in one line. ls dir > ls.txt however writes each folder/file name in a separate line of the text file.

    If you would like to print the result of ls dir in that format you can use the long format ls dir -l.