LX: A nicer way to list your files

A modern alternative to ls with more readable formatting, colours, icons, and customizable output.

Features

• Crazy fast: just as fast (if not faster) compared to the stock ls command
• Colorized output with file type icons
• Multiple display modes: short (default), long (-l), one-per-line (-1), compact (-c), and recursive tree view (-r)
• Configurable: customise colours, hidden-file styling, spacing, display options, and tree styles
• Smart alignment: properly handles unicode characters and icons

Demo

Basic formatting difference compared to the standard ls command

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Nicer long format compared to the standard ls command (displayed fields can be customized)

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Recursive sub-directory tree view with the -r flag

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The -r flag can be combined with the '-l' long flag for viewing subdirectory info

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-1 flag to force single-column output formatting

Requirements

• Rust 1.85 or newer and Cargo
• Either a nerd font or a terminal like Ghostty which has nerd font icons pre-installed.

Installation

The easiest way to install lx is using Cargo:

cargo install lx-cli

This will install the lx binary to ~/.cargo/bin/, which is typically already in your PATH.

Building from source

Alternatively, you can build it from source:

git clone https://github.com/JackDerksen/lx-cli
cd lx-cli
cargo build --release
cp target/release/lx ~/.local/bin/

For local development, use the provided install script to automatically build and install:

./install.sh

This script will build the project and copy the binary to ~/.local/bin/.

Make sure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Add this to your shell configuration file (.bashrc, .zshrc, etc.) to make it permanent.

Quick Start

After installation, simply run:

lx

Usage

lx is used pretty much just like regular old ls:

# List files in current directory
lx

# List files in long format
lx -l

# Show hidden files
lx -a

# Display one file per line
lx -1

# Use compact columns, wrapping after five rows by default
lx -c

# Show directory tree recursively
lx -r

# Show only directories or only files
lx -d
lx -f

# Exclude names or glob patterns from a listing
lx -x '.git,target,Cargo.*'

# Sort by size, largest first
lx -s size desc

# Combine flags
lx -la src
lx -lr
lx -alr /path/to/directory

# List files in a specific directory
lx /path/to/directory

Flags

• -l, --long: Use a long listing format with detailed file information
• -a, --all: Show all files, including hidden ones (starting with .)
• -f, --files: Show only files (not available with -r)
• -d, --directories: Show only directories (not available with -r)
• -x, --exclude <PATTERN>: Exclude comma-separated names or */? glob patterns; repeat the flag to add more patterns
• -s, --sort <FIELD> [ORDER]: Sort by name, size, modified, type, permissions, links, owner, or group; use optional asc (the default) or desc
• --sort-order <ORDER>: Explicit alternative for specifying asc or desc; requires --sort
• -1: Force single-column output (useful for piping to other commands)
• -c, --compact: Use compact columns, wrapping after compact_max_rows rows
• -r, --recursive: Show directory tree recursively with proper hierarchy

-l and -1 are treated as separate display modes, so they cannot be combined together. -c is only available for short output, so it cannot be combined with -l, -1, or -r. Short flags can still be clustered in the usual Unix style, so combinations like -la, -lr, and -alr work as expected.

Configuration

lx can be customized using a configuration file at ~/.config/lx/config.

See config.example for all available options and detailed configuration examples.

Configuration Sections

The configuration file supports the following sections:

• [colors]: Customise text colours for different file types, including hidden files
• [icons]: Set custom icons for different file types
• [icons.colors]: Customise colours for icons separately from filenames, including hidden file icons
• [display]: Control layout options, column wrapping, and default sorting
• [display.tree]: Control tree display style for recursive listings (style = "ascii" or style = "indent")

Set datetime_format under [display] to change the long-format modified column. It uses Chrono’s strftime-style specifiers, so %B %-d, %Y renders a full month name (for example, August 8, 2026) and %-I:%M %p uses a 12-hour clock. Numeric and text directives are padded independently across the listing, keeping each date/time component aligned.

For a complete list of available colors, icons, and configuration options, please refer to config.example.