LX: A nicer way to list your files

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

Features

🎨 Colorized output with file type icons
📊 Multiple display modes: short (default) and long (-l)
👻 Hidden files support: use -a to show all files
⚙️ Configurable: customize colors, spacing, and display options
📏 Smart alignment: properly handles unicode characters and icons

Requirements

Rust (>= 1.56.1) 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

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/

Now the lx command should be available in your path, and you can use it to list your files anywhere!

Usage

lx is used pretty much just like regular old ls. There are only a couple of flags at the moment, but more are on the way!

# List files in current directory
lx

# List files in long format
lx -l

# Show hidden files
lx -a

# Combine flags
lx -la

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

Configuration

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

See config.example for all available options.

Example Configuration

(this is different from default)

[colors]
directory = "blue"
executable = "red"
regular = "white"

[display]
column_spacing = 3
max_rows = 7

Available Colors

black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white
bright_black, bright_red, bright_green, bright_yellow, bright_blue, bright_magenta, bright_cyan, bright_white

Configuration Options

`[colors]`

directory: Color for directory names (default: blue)
executable: Color for executable files (default: green)
regular: Color for regular files (default: white)

`[display]`

column_spacing: Number of spaces between columns (default: 2)
max_rows: Maximum number of rows before wrapping to next column in short format. Set to 0 for no limit (default: 0)
- When set, each file type (directories, executables, regular files) will wrap into multiple columns after reaching the max row count
- For example, with max_rows = 5 and 12 directories, they will be displayed in 3 columns with 5 rows each
- File type separation is maintained - directories, executables, and files are kept in their own sections
- Only applies to short format (default view), not long format (-l)

lx-cli 0.1.2