Mike-Ward.Net

lsv

lsv - Vlang implementation of `ls`

lsv is a modern alternative to ls in the spirit of exa, eza, lsd, pls, natls, ls-go and others.

Screenshot

Border format with header option Screenshot

Features

Single binary with no external dependencies!
Not written in Rust 😮 (see below)
Color output based on LS_COLORS
Table format (long format)
Column Headers (long format)
Icons (requires a nerd font)
Blocked output (long format)
Checksum (md5, sha1, sha224, sha256, sha512, blake2b)
Mime types
Friendly file sizes and dates
Nearly as fast as GNU ls
Robust recursion. Try lsv -R /
Options similar to ls

Installing

Build `lsv` from source.

Install the V compiler. It takes a minute or less
git clone https://github.com/mike-ward/lsv.git
cd lsv
make
bin/lsv

Binaries

Latest Release

Help

lsv v2025.2
-----------------------------------------------
Usage: lsv [options] [FILES]

Description: List information about FILES

Options:
  -a                        include files starting with .
  -A                        do not list implied . and ..
  -c                        color the listing
  -D                        append / to directories
  -F                        show full path
  -i                        show file icon (requires nerd fonts)
  -l                        long listing format (see Long Listing Options)
  -m                        list of files separated by commas
  -q                        enclose files in quotes
  -R                        list subdirectories recursively
  -X                        list files by lines instead of by columns
  -1                        list one file per line

  --depth <int>             limit depth of recursion
  --width <int>             set output width to <int>

Filtering and Sorting Options:
  -d                        list only directories
  -f                        list only files
  -g                        sort directories before files
  -r                        reverse the listing order
  -s                        sort by file size, largest first
  -t                        sort by time, newest first
  -v                        sort digits within text as numbers
  -w                        sort by width, shortest first
  -x                        sort by file extension
  -u                        no sorting

  --after <string>          after modified time <string>
  --after-access  <string>  after access time <string>
  --after-change <string>   after change time <string>
  --before <string>         before modified time <string>
  --before-access <string>  before access time <string>
  --before-change <string>  before change time <string>

                            where time <string> is an ISO 8601 format.
                            See: https://ijmacd.github.io/rfc3339-iso8601

  --ignore <string>         ignore glob patterns (pipe-separated)
  --ignore-case             ignore case when sorting

Long Listing Options:
  -b                        blank line every 5 rows
  -B                        add borders to long listing format
  -,                        sizes comma separated by thousands
  -k                        sizes in kibibytes (1024) (e.g. 1k 234m 2g)
  -K                        sizes in Kilobytes (1000) (e.g. 1kb 234mb 2gb)
  -#                        show entry number
  -n                        show owner and group IDs as numbers
  -o                        show octal permissions
  -p                        show relative path
  -C                        show last status changed date
  -E                        show last accessed date
  -H                        show column headers
  -I                        show time in iso format
  -J                        show time in compact format
  -L                        show time in compact format with week day
  -T                        show relative time
  -M                        show mime type
  -N                        show inodes

  --cs <string>             show file checksum
                            (md5, sha1, sha224, sha256, sha512, blake2b)
  --no-counts               hide file/dir counts
  --no-date                 hide date (modified)
  --no-dim                  hide shading; useful for light backgrounds
  --no-group                hide group name
  --no-hard-links           hide hard links count
  --no-owner                hide owner name
  --no-permissions          hide permissions
  --no-size                 hide file size
  --no-wrap                 do not wrap long lines
  --zero                    end each output line with NUL, not newline

  -h, --help                display this help and exit
  --version                 output version information and exit

The -c option emits color codes when standard output is
connected to a terminal. Colors are defined in the LS_COLORS
environment variable.

Why?

It started with writing a ls implemention for the V Language CoreUtils project. Coreutils is a reimplementation of the POSIX and GNU utility programs written in the V Language. Everything was going fine until I started having too much fun and down the, “Rabbit Hole” I went.

What’s this V language? You can read about it here, but the short version is it is a simple, fast, safe, compiled language for developing maintainable software. I mentioned lsv is not written in Rust. I’m not trashing Rust. Rust is obviously a robust and popular language. However, it’s a steep climb to get up to speed and requires a fair bit of cognitive load to use it well.

V is the opposite. It has many of the same safty features of Rust, but without the cognitive over head. It’s simple, straightfoward syntax makes it a breeze to write. Builds happen in milliseconds, not minutes and hours. You don’t need any special build tools like Gradle.

Finally, take a look at the lsv code base. The entire code base is 1.5K lines 🧐. Furthermore, the implemention is straightforward. No threading, coroutines or fancy memory management. Even if you don’t know V, I’m betting you will understand the code.

Helping Out

See CONTRIBUTING.md for more information

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