Ubuntu – What do the different colors mean in ls

• Blue: Directory
• Green: Executable or recognized data file
• Cyan (Sky Blue): Symbolic link file
• Yellow with black background: Device
• Magenta (Pink): Graphic image file
• Red: Archive file
• Red with black background: Broken link

For your information:

• To turn the color off, you have to comment out the following lines in .bashrc.

  # enable color support of ls and also add handy aliases
  #if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then
  #    test -r ~/.dircolors && eval "$(dircolors -b ~/.dircolors)" || eval "$(dircolors -b)"
  #    alias ls='ls --color=auto'
  #    #alias dir='dir --color=auto'
  #    #alias vdir='vdir --color=auto'
  #
  #    alias grep='grep --color=auto'
  #    alias fgrep='fgrep --color=auto'
  #    alias egrep='egrep --color=auto'
  #fi
  

• Also if you want to see your own bash color meanings,then copy/paste the following codes in your terminal.

  eval $(echo "no:global default;fi:normal file;di:directory;ln:symbolic link;pi:named pipe;so:socket;do:door;bd:block device;cd:character device;or:orphan symlink;mi:missing file;su:set uid;sg:set gid;tw:sticky other writable;ow:other writable;st:sticky;ex:executable;"|sed -e 's/:/="/g; s/\;/"\n/g')           
  {      
    IFS=:     
    for i in $LS_COLORS     
    do        
      echo -e "\e[${i#*=}m$( x=${i%=*}; [ "${!x}" ] && echo "${!x}" || echo "$x" )\e[m" 
    done       
  } 
  

Output:

Note:

• For more information, type man dir_colors in terminal.