Eza is a feature-rich ls replacement, offering vibrant color highlighting, file type icons, and flexible tree and table views for enhanced terminal navigation.

Overview

Eza is a modern, maintained replacement for the classic ls command that brings essential features developers need: color highlighting, file type icons, git integration, and flexible viewing formats. It makes directory navigation more informative and visually appealing.

Key Features

  • Color Highlighting: Intelligent color coding for different file types and permissions
  • File Type Icons: Visual icons for different file types and directories
  • Git Integration: Shows git status indicators for tracked files
  • Multiple Views: Tree view, detailed view, and grid layouts
  • Performance: Fast execution even with large directories
  • Cross-Platform: Consistent behavior across Linux, macOS, and Windows

Common Use Cases

Enhanced Directory Listing

bash
# Basic enhanced listing
eza

# Detailed view with permissions
eza -l

# Show hidden files
eza -la

# Tree view
eza --tree

Common Alias Patterns

bash
# Alias for detailed, human-readable listing with Git info and icons
alias ls='eza -lah --git --icons'

# Alias for tree view with limited depth
alias tree='eza -l --tree --level=2 --git --icons'

# Alias for showing all files including hidden ones
alias la='eza -la --git --icons'

Advanced Viewing Options

bash
# Show only directories
eza -D

# Group by file type
eza --group-directories-first

# Show file sizes in human readable format
eza -lh

# Show extended attributes
eza -l --extended

Why Developers Choose Eza

  • Visual clarity: Icons and colors make file types instantly recognizable
  • Git awareness: See modified, staged, and untracked files at a glance
  • Flexible output: Multiple viewing modes for different needs
  • Performance optimized: Handles large directories without slowdown
  • Modern defaults: Sensible defaults that work out of the box

Git Integration

Eza provides rich git status information:

bash
# Shows git status indicators
eza --git

# Common indicators:
# ✓ = clean file
# ? = untracked file
# + = staged file
# ! = modified file
# » = renamed file

Advanced Features

Tree View Navigation

bash
# Show directory tree
eza --tree

# Limit tree depth
eza --tree --level=3

# Show tree with git info
eza --tree --git

File Filtering and Sorting

bash
# Sort by modification time
eza --sort=modified

# Show only specific file types
eza --only-dirs
eza --only-files

# Reverse sort order
eza --reverse --sort=size

Grid and Table Views

bash
# Grid layout for visual browsing
eza --grid

# Table view with detailed info
eza --table

# Long format with specific columns
eza --long --header --binary

Integration with Terminal Setup

Eza works great with other terminal tools:

bash
# Combine with bat for file viewing
eza | grep "\.py$" | xargs bat

# Use with find for targeted searches
find . -name "*.js" | eza --stdin

# Pipe to other commands
eza --tree | head -20

Customization

Color Schemes

bash
# Available color schemes
eza --color-scheme

# Use specific color scheme
eza --color-scheme=dark

# Custom color configuration
export LS_COLORS="di=1;34:ln=1;36:ex=1;32"
eza --color=always

Resources

Eza transforms the mundane act of listing files into an informative, visually pleasing experience that enhances terminal productivity.

Visit Tool GitHub

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