ft_ls
ft_ls is a 42-network project which involves recreating the ls command which is a command-line utility that lists the content of one or more directories on the standard output. The ls command supports a variety of options and a bunch of them are present in this project as well. The ls command is one of the first commands you learn as a beginner programmer.
For more information about this project, see ft_ls.en.pdf.
Compiling
Run make, an executable called ft_ls should compile directly. Please submit an issue if you run into any.
How to use?
After creating the executable file, ft_ls can be used like this:
./ft_ls [OPTIONS] [FILES]
It is not obligatory to specify an option or a file. If no file is specified ft_ls will list the current directory.
Options
- -a: do not ignore entries starting with .
- -d: list directories themselves, not their contents
- -f: do not sort
- -g: like -l, but do not list owner
- -l: use a long listing format
- -m: fill width with a comma seperated list of entries
- -r: reverse order while sorting
- -R: list subdirectories recursively
- -t: sort by time, newest first
- -T: assume tab stops at each COLS instead of 8
Challange
Allowed functions for the mandatory part are write, opendir, readdir, closedir, stat, lstat, getpwuid, getgrgid, listxattr, getxattr, time, ctime, readlink, malloc, free, perror, strerror and exit. Everything else is forbidden. Other functions can be used for bonus, but their use must be justified.
Takeaways
- Because of the many functions I was unfamiliar with before starting this project I had to practice with them. There is nothing wrong with practicing ofcourse, but the result was that some parts of my program became quite messy and I had to rewrite the code a couple of times. This made me realize the importance of planning ahead and of working in a structured way.
- During this project I have gotten a better understanding of allocating and free-ing memory.
- I got familiar with working with the operating systems API's.