[ILUG] displaying directory listings

[P at draigBrady.com]

Darragh wrote:
> You wrote
> 
>>I don't know the layout of your cell display.
>>How is this requirement different from 1 file name per line?
> 
> 
> The display is arranged in one line with 40 cells across.  there are panning
> buttons across the top for moving to each block of 40 on a line. On each
> side of the display are two wheels for moving up and down a line. If I know
> there are a lot of file names on the screen but I'm looking for one starting
> with W I can read the left column until I get to the letter I'm looking for
> then I can use the panning buttons to read the other files on the line.
> basically I'm just being awkward. Its just an easier way of reading a list
> on a display. Similarly if I want to focus on the files on the right I like
> some space at the end to make it easier to distinguish where the previous
> file name ends.

Thanks for the explanation. The following shell function
which you could put in your .bashrc may be useful.

l() { cols=$1; width=`expr $cols '*' 40`; /bin/ls -F | pr -T$cols 
-W$width; }

To display 1 column listing you issue "l 1" and for 4 columns "l 4"

-- 
Pádraig Brady - http://www.pixelbeat.org
--