Re: ls -help not accurate

[Philip Rowlands]

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008, John Bowling wrote:

> ls -d
> returns only '.'
> Per your faq this is the designed in operation
>
> ls --help
> does not reflect that operation:
>
>  -d, --directory            list directory entries instead of contents,
>                               and do not dereference symbolic links

"." is the directory entry (not the contents) of ".", which is the 
default argument to ls.

> For that result it should read
>  -d, --directory            lists base directory entry only instead of
> contents,

"ls -d" is not a useful command on its own, without any arguments. 
Changing the --help text as suggested would mis-describe the intended 
purpose of -d, which is detailed in the referenced FAQ.

> There is no way to get directory entries  (plural or multiple levels)
> with just -d
> making that description of -d very inaccurate.

 From the FAQ:
"If you are trying to find files in the directory hierarchy then you 
should look into using the find command."

--help output is intended to be more of a quick reference; the coreutils 
manual contains a longer description of -d.


Cheers,
Phil