DIRCOLORS(1) User Commands DIRCOLORS(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

dircolors - color setup for ls

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**dircolors** \[*OPTION*]... \[*FILE*]

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Output commands to set the LS\_COLORS environment variable.

## [Determine format of output:](#Determine_format_of_output:)

[**-b, --sh, --bourne-shell**](#b,)

output Bourne shell code to set LS\_COLORS

[**-c, --csh, --c-shell**](#c,)

output C shell code to set LS\_COLORS

[**-p, --print-database**](#p,)

output defaults

[**--print-ls-colors**](#print)

output fully escaped colors for display

[**--help**](#help)

display this help and exit

[**--version**](#version)

output version information and exit

If FILE is specified, read it to determine which colors to use for which file types and extensions. Otherwise, a precompiled database is used. For details on the format of these files, run 'dircolors **--print-database**'.

# [AUTHOR](#AUTHOR)

Written by H. Peter Anvin.

# [REPORTING BUGS](#REPORTING_BUGS)

Report bugs to: <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.  
Report any translation bugs to: <https://translationproject.org/team/>.  
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>  
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

# [COPYRIGHT](#COPYRIGHT)

Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.  
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/dircolors>  
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) dircolors invocation'

October 2026 GNU coreutils 9.12

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Document: dircolors(1) from coreutils 9.12-r6 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/coreutils.git