ls uses the environment variable LS_COLORS to determine the colors in which the filenames are to be displayed. This environment variable is usually set by a command in the .bashrc file like
eval 'dircolors some_path/dir_colors'
to create a customize .dircolors file, use the command
dircolors -p > .dircolors
and then edit the .dircolors file.
for example, change the color of execute permission to red with: EXEC 00;31
The comments in the generated .dircolors file already listed the color codes.
ISO 6429 color sequences are composed of sequences of numbers separated by semicolons. The most common codes are:
| Attribute Codes: | |
|---|---|
| 00 | none — to restore default color |
| 01 | bold — for brighter colors |
| 04 | underscore — for underlined text |
| 05 | blink — for flashing text |
| 07 | reverse — to reverse background and foreground colors |
| 08 | concealed — to hide text |
| Text Color Codes: | Background Color Codes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | for black foreground | 40 | for black background |
| 31 | for red foreground | 41 | for red background |
| 32 | for green foreground | 42 | for green background |
| 33 | for orange foreground | 43 | for brown background |
| 34 | for blue foreground | 44 | for blue background |
| 35 | for purple foreground | 45 | for purple background |
| 36 | for cyan foreground | 46 | for cyan background |
| 37 | for gray foreground | 47 | for gray background |
| Extra Text Color Codes: | Extra Background Color Codes | ||
| 90 | dark gray | 100 | dark gray background |
| 91 | light red | 101 | light red background |
| 92 | light green | 102 | light green background |
| 93 | yellow | 103 | yellow background |
| 94 | light blue | 104 | light blue background |
| 95 | light purple | 105 | light purple background |
| 96 | turquoise | 106 | turquoise background |
| 97 | white | 107 | white background |
