ls

Enahnced directory listing for Windows console

Summary

The original ls, which I wrote in Python, started out as an attempt to provide more mimicry of the UN*X command of the same name. However, that Python script diverged somewhat from the original goal, morphing into something with more features targeting Windows-based systems.

This project is not the orignal ls Python script I wrote. Instead, I decided to use that script as the blueprint for a learning challenge in Go, so this project is a port of that Python script. The result actually includes some minor improvements over the original Python implemenation.

Configuration

ls uses a JSON file to hold its configuration details. This file, called ls.json, is expected to be found in the %APPDATA% folder. This project includes an example ls.json file, the settings of which were used to create screen shots.

Coloring

File/folder coloring is a basic feature of ls. The ANSI color values used are contained in the JSON configuration file. This file can be modified to change the default colors used, and it can be extended to colorize more file types than are provided by default.

Windows does not by default enable ANSI color support in its cmd.exe console windows. ls relies on C++ code in a Windows DLL to manage color support within a cmd.exe console. The C++ code (along with the VS2019 project files) for this shared library can be found in the term/DLL subfolder.

SCM Status

ls has built-in support for detecting the presence of a source-control manager for the folder being displayed. At this time, the three most popular SCMs are supported: Subversion, Mercurial and git. If ls detects that the current folder is under SCM control, it will attempt to retrieve the current state of the entries within the context of that SCM.

For example, a Mercirual folder might display the following:

Metadata

Once of the more advanced features of ls is its display of entry metadata. Such metadata can fall into one of three categories:

1. Symlinks (a.k.a. reparse points, in Microsoft not-invented-here speak)
2. Alternative Data Streams (in particular, Directory Opus)
3. Total Commander descript.ion file

Display of these metadata types with ls is illustrated in the following screenshot:

As with coloring, this feature of ls also relies upon C++ code that interfaces directly with Win32 API calls. Accessing ADSs is somewhat acrobatic given the interfaces and casting required, so C++ was the best choice to address this. You can find the source code (along with VS2019 project files) in the meta/DLL subfolder. Unlike coloring, this DLL is optional, and ls will function without it (you just won't get metadata displayed).

Building

On Windows, compile with: go build -ldflags "-s -w" .

The Go system should pull down all modules that ls requires in order to build the resulting executable.

I hope you find this useful.