Comments on: Exa – A Modern Replacement for ls Command

By: Adam Stroud

Adam Stroud — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 19:53:27 +0000

I'll have to try out exa to see if it's really worth the time versus the standard ls command. With that said, all the extra "features" are starting to make me wonder if this is breaking too much with the traditional "one tool, one purpose" model of *nix.

By: Anusha

Anusha — Sat, 26 Jun 2021 07:00:36 +0000

In reply to Ravi Saive.

Thanks for the reply…

Yes, I will try and see, if any issues arise will surely ask for help…

Thanks

By: Ravi Saive

Ravi Saive — Sat, 26 Jun 2021 06:48:41 +0000

In reply to Anusha.

@Anusha,

I am glad, that you liked this article, feel free to try and if you get any errors do ask me here…

By: Anusha

Anusha — Sat, 26 Jun 2021 06:46:24 +0000

A very good article, I didn’t know about this tool before. I will surely install and try this tool on my new Ubuntu 20.04 machine.

Thanks

By: James

James — Wed, 12 May 2021 15:04:09 +0000

The error seems to have been created by the comment administration software. The sixth last line should have been:

ls filename (with angle braces around ‘filename’)

Instead, it came out as just:

ls

By: James

James — Wed, 12 May 2021 14:59:32 +0000

There is an error in the 6th last non-blank line above. I have corrected it below:) For me, a useful improvement on ls would:

retain ls's ability to format the date in any designated way as can be accomplished with its --time-style=TIME_STYLE parameter.
retain ls's ability to show the file's group ownership.
allow any field to be excluded or included; and.
allow the output fields to be placed in any designated order.

exa accomplishes only the third in a very clumsy way with its boolean parameters --no-permissions, --no-filesize, --no-user, and --no-time parameters, but it doesn't accomplish 1, 2 and 4. My workaround, which accomplishes, for me, 1, 3 and 4 is the bash script:

#!/bin/bash
if [ $1 ];then
  foundFile=$1
  ls -l --time-style=+%y%m%d%H%M $foundFile | awk '{print $6, $5, $7}'
else
  ls -l --time-style=+%y%m%d%H%M | awk '{print $6, $5, $7}'
fi

The first branch is the logical equivalent of:

ls

The second branch is the logical equivalent of just:

ls

An example of my script's use is:

$ lsi gridlinedBanner.xcf 
2102030143 3718281 gridlinedBanner.xcf

By: James

James — Wed, 12 May 2021 14:55:29 +0000

For me, a useful improvement on ls command would:

Retain ls's ability to format the date in any designated way as can be accomplished with its --time-style=TIME_STYLE parameter.
Retain ls's ability to show the file's group ownership.
Allow any field to be excluded or included; and
Allow the output fields to be placed in any designated order.

exa accomplishes only the third in a very clumsy way with its boolean parameters --no-permissions, --no-filesize, --no-user and --no-time parameters, but it doesn't accomplish 1, 2 and 4 My workaround, which accomplishes, for me, 1, 3 and 4 is the bash script:

#!/bin/bash
if [ $1 ];then
  foundFile=$1
  ls -l --time-style=+%y%m%d%H%M $foundFile | awk '{print $6, $5, $7}'
else
  ls -l --time-style=+%y%m%d%H%M | awk '{print $6, $5, $7}'
fi

The first branch is the logical equivalent of:

$ ls

The second branch is the logical equivalent of just:

$ ls

An example of my script's use is:

$ lsi gridlinedBanner.xcf 
2102030143 3718281 gridlinedBanner.xcf

By: Ravi Saive

Ravi Saive — Sat, 01 May 2021 06:35:36 +0000

In reply to Ivan Popov. Ivan, It's due to its fast execution as compared to the standard ls command, as it queries files in parallel, which makes exa faster and improves the performance of results. Also, it has some nicer features which are not present in ls such as viewing git status, colors to distinguish file types and metadata, a built-in tree tool to view files in hierarchy fashion and many more.

By: Ravi Saive

Ravi Saive — Sat, 01 May 2021 06:32:17 +0000

In reply to Jay Sanders. @Jay, No doubt that ls command does everything, but exa has some better features which are not present in ls, such as showing git status, colours to distinguish file types and metadata, built-in tree tool to list files in hierarchy pattern and many more. Also, exa is faster than ls, as it queries files in parallel.