What are the benefits of using the vdir command over ls -l?
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CuriousCoder42
Hey everyone! I've been diving into the vdir command, and I noticed from the man pages that it seems similar to the ls -l command. I'm curious about what vdir actually offers in terms of advantages. Why should someone choose to use vdir instead of just sticking with ls -l? Thanks in advance for your insights!
Answers
Looks like there was a little mistake in their example; they meant to type vidir instead of vdir. Just a typo!
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One major advantage of vdir is that it allows you to edit file names directly within an editor, making it easier to manipulate them visually. You can achieve something similar with vim by piping the output of ls to it. Just run `ls | vim -`, and once you’re in vim, you can use the substitution command to rename files. It’s pretty handy if you prefer a visual approach!
EditEnthusiast99: Wow, I’ll need to take some time to digest that command and the substitution commands as well. Thanks for sharing!
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While ls is commonly used in scripts, vdir provides features that can be more user-friendly, such as better sorting, recursion, and ignoring specific file types. It’s designed to be more readable to humans. Plus, people often alias ls -al to ll in Ubuntu for convenience, but vdir still has its unique advantages!
FileNerd: Thanks for pointing out the -R flag! That’s definitely an added feature for vdir, though keep in mind that ls supports -R too.
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CuriousCoder42: Yep, another user mentioned that too. Thanks for clarifying!