tree

tree linux command cheatsheet by Thamizhiniyan C S

Introduction

This command is used to list contents of directories in a tree-like format.

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Syntax

tree [-acdfghilnpqrstuvxACDFJQNSUX] [-L level [-R]] [-H baseHREF] [-T title] [-o filename] [-P pattern] [-I pattern] [--gitignore] [--git‐ file[=]file] [--matchdirs] [--metafirst] [--ignore-case] [--nolinks] [--hintro[=]file] [--houtro[=]file] [--inodes] [--device] [--sort[=]name] [--dirsfirst] [--filesfirst] [--filelimit #] [--si] [--du] [--prune] [--charset[=]X] [--timefmt[=]format] [--fromfile] [--fflinks] [--info] [--infofile[=]file] [--noreport] [--version] [--help] [--] [directory ...]

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Important Flags

Listing Options

Flag	Description
-a	All files are listed.
-d	List directories only.
-l	Follow symbolic links like directories.
-f	Print the full path prefix for each file.
-x	Stay on current filesystem only.
-L level	Descend only level directories deep.
-R	Rerun tree when max dir level reached.
-P pattern	List only those files that match the pattern given.
-I pattern	Do not list files that match the given pattern.
--gitignore	Filter by using .gitignore files.
--gitfile X	Explicitly read gitignore file.
--ignore-case	Ignore case when pattern matching.
--matchdirs	Include directory names in -P pattern matching.
--metafirst	Print meta-data at the beginning of each line.
--prune	Prune empty directories from the output.
--info	Print information about files found in .info files.
--infofile X	Explicitly read info file.
--noreport	Turn off file/directory count at end of tree listing.
--charset X	Use charset X for terminal/HTML and indentation line output.
--filelimit #	Do not descend dirs with more than # files in them.
-o filename	Output to file instead of stdout.

File Options

Flag	Description
-q	Print non-printable characters as '?'.
-N	Print non-printable characters as is.
-Q	Quote filenames with double quotes.
-p	Print the protections for each file.
-u	Displays file owner or UID number.
-g	Displays file group owner or GID number.
-s	Print the size in bytes of each file.
-h	Print the size in a more human readable way.
--si	Like -h, but use in SI units (powers of 1000).
--du	Compute size of directories by their contents.
-D	Print the date of last modification or (-c) status change.
--timefmt	Print and format time according to the format .
-F	Appends '/', '=', '*', '@', '|' or '>' as per ls -F.
--inodes	Print inode number of each file.
--device	Print device ID number to which each file belongs.

Sorting Options

Flag	Description
-v	Sort files alphanumerically by version.
-t	Sort files by last modification time.
-c	Sort files by last status change time.
-U	Leave files unsorted.
-r	Reverse the order of the sort.
--dirsfirst	List directories before files (-U disables).
--filesfirst	List files before directories (-U disables).
--sort X	Select sort: name,version,size,mtime,ctime.

Graphics Options

Flag	Description
-i	Don't print indentation lines.
-A	Print ANSI lines graphic indentation lines.
-S	Print with CP437 (console) graphics indentation lines.
-n	Turn colorization off always (-C overrides).
-C	Turn colorization on always.

XML/HTML/JSON Options

Flag	Description
-X	Prints out an XML representation of the tree.
-J	Prints out an JSON representation of the tree.
-H baseHREF	Prints out HTML format with baseHREF as top directory.
-T string	Replace the default HTML title and H1 header with string.
--nolinks	Turn off hyperlinks in HTML output.
--hintro X	Use file X as the HTML intro.
--houtro X	Use file X as the HTML outro.

Input Options

Flag	Description
--fromfile	Reads paths from files (.=stdin)
--fflinks	Process link information when using --fromfile.

Misc Options

Flag	Description
--version	Print version and exit.
--help	Print usage and this help message and exit.
--	Options processing terminator.

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Examples

Command	Description
tree	Displays the tree structure of our current directory, showing all the files, folders, and sub-folders.
tree -a	Display hidden files along with other files using tree. In the tree, the folders and files which are starting from a '.' are the hidden folders and files.
tree -a [DirectoryName/Path]	Display contents of a specific directory.
tree -d	Display only directory listing through tree (print only directories).
tree -f	Display full path prefix of files and folders using tree. It is mainly useful when we need to know what exists where.
tree -s	Display size of files and folders using tree. With the help of the 's' flag, we can check which memory items consume more space on our system and getting rid of needless ones.
tree -p	Display read-write permission of files and folders using tree. Thus, before performing operation on a file and folder, we can first see and edit the permissions that exist on a particular item.
tree -L[n]	List folder contents till a certain level/depth through tree. This command will only show the sub-directories (using -d flag) of the present directory not the additional expanded tree.
tree -cD TargetDirectory	Sort files based on first modification
tree -cDr TargetDirectory	Sort files based on the last modification
tree -P sample* .	List files with entered pattern
tree --filelimit 3 ./Desktop	List those directories which have greater ‘N’ number of files/directories
tree --device ./Desktop	Prints the device number to which the file or directory belongs.