LinuxCommandLibrary

tree

TLDR

Display directory tree

$ tree
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Show tree for specific directory
$ tree [path/to/directory]
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Include hidden files
$ tree -a
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Show only directories
$ tree -d
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Limit depth of tree
$ tree -L [2]
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Show file sizes
$ tree -s
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Show human-readable sizes
$ tree -sh
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Output in JSON format
$ tree -J
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Exclude patterns
$ tree -I "[pattern|pattern2]"
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Show full path for each file
$ tree -f
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SYNOPSIS

tree [options] [directory...]

DESCRIPTION

tree displays the contents of directories in a tree-like format, showing the hierarchical relationship between files and subdirectories visually.
The default output uses ASCII or Unicode box-drawing characters to represent the tree structure. Colorization helps distinguish file types (directories, executables, symlinks, etc.).
Various output formats are supported for integration with other tools: JSON (-J) for programmatic parsing, XML (-X) for structured data, and HTML (-H) for web display.
Filtering with -I (exclude) and -P (include) uses shell glob patterns, supporting wildcards like \* and ?.

PARAMETERS

-a

Show all files including hidden
-d
List directories only
-L level
Limit depth to level
-f
Print full path prefix
-s
Print size of each file
-h
Print sizes in human-readable format
-D
Print last modification date
-p
Print file permissions
-u
Print username
-g
Print group name
-I pattern
Exclude files matching pattern
-P pattern
List only files matching pattern
--dirsfirst
List directories before files
-C
Colorize output
-n
Turn off colorization
-H baseHREF
Output HTML with base URL
-J
Output JSON
-X
Output XML

CAVEATS

Large directories can produce overwhelming output. Use -L to limit depth or -d for directories only when exploring unfamiliar structures.
Tree follows symbolic links by default unless they would cause infinite loops. Use -l to follow all symlinks unconditionally.
The output is optimized for display width. Very long filenames may be truncated depending on terminal width.

SEE ALSO

ls(1), find(1), du(1), exa(1)

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