# sorting screen content



## iic2 (Jun 6, 2009)

When I open up a folder like/usr/bin which has 424 files inside ... my TINY 17 inch screen displays only has 3 columns and all I see are files from [fstat* - ztest*] This is no fun.   What happened to starting  to show from from A - Z.  I rather see the A's  first that sort to see others reverse  to [Z] order.  But this may be only my screen problem or do every one see the same.

My question is, is there a script or a special permanent setting that can be use in rc that will give me four columns instead of three.  And are there some calls that I can make to sort [A -Z] order than [Z -A] order

Do appreciate all solutions


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## graudeejs (Jun 6, 2009)

Is this what you look for
`$ ls | sort | less`

read man for sort


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## jb_fvwm2 (Jun 6, 2009)

# ls -lac | lookat
(install /lookat/), you can use
t, top b=bottom, s=search, ...
(One can install it as the $PAGER) and maybe make
man pages easier to read/browse...
One can also make aliases for ls
(I have one that is "ls -BCks1ahl") , which is alphabetical.


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## vivek (Jun 6, 2009)

I think ls | less is more than sufficient. You can scroll up or down. You can search by pressing / key and keyword. Press H to see help while less running as pager for ls. And there is column(1) utility which can formats its input into multiple columns.

```
ls | columns
(printf "PERM LINKS OWNER GROUP SIZE MONTH DAY " ; \ 
           printf "HH:MM/YEAR NAME\n" ; \
           ls -l | sed 1d) | column -t
```


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## jb_fvwm2 (Jun 7, 2009)

/lookat/ defaults to white-on-blue
Also, I can type "s" without looking at the
keyboard.  
/lookat/ also puts the current line number in
the statusbar, and the total number of lines. So
I can 
"man AnyEvent" and tell right away if
the man page has 50, 500, or 2000 lines...
(1471 lines in this case, p5-AnyEvent)...
may be useful if one is looking for Examples...


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## iic2 (Jun 7, 2009)

Wow! This is more than helpful. Thanks.  I just remember this: Hit the scroll lock and you can stroll top to bottom using the arrow keys.  Be nice if it was permanent but not all thing may be possible.  Make blinker in rc as an reminder of where you  and increase stroll lines.
vidcontrol -c blink -h 200
http://www.unixguide.net/freebsd/fbsd_installguide71/
page 11 or 12


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