Tree Directory Visualization

Install

sudo apt install tree

Basic usage

tree
tree /path/to/directory

Depth limit

tree -L 2  # 2 levels deep
tree -L 1  # Only immediate children

Show hidden files

tree -a

Directories only

tree -d

Files only (no dirs)

tree -f

File sizes

tree -h      # Human readable
tree -s      # Bytes
tree --du    # Disk usage

Show permissions

tree -p

Show owner/group

tree -ug

Show full path

tree -f

Sort output

tree -v       # Version sort
tree -t       # Modification time
tree -c       # Last status change
tree -r       # Reverse order
tree --dirsfirst  # Directories first

Pattern matching

# Include pattern
tree -P '*.txt'

# Exclude pattern
tree -I 'node_modules|.git'

# Multiple excludes
tree -I '*.pyc|__pycache__|.git'

Limit files shown

tree --filelimit 10  # Max 10 files per directory

Output formats

# JSON
tree -J

# XML
tree -X

# HTML
tree -H baseurl > tree.html

Colorize

tree -C  # Color (default if terminal supports)
tree -n  # No color

Character set

tree --charset ascii  # ASCII characters only

Statistics

tree --du  # Show size summary

Common use cases

Project structure

tree -L 2 -I 'node_modules|.git'

Config files

tree -a /etc/nginx

Find large directories

tree --du -h | sort -h

Generate documentation

tree -H '.' -L 2 > project-structure.html

Backup verification

tree /backup > backup-structure.txt

Advanced examples

Code project

tree -L 3 -I 'node_modules|dist|build|.git|__pycache__|*.pyc'

With file count

tree -L 2 --dirsfirst | head -50

Size sorted

tree --du -h | grep -v /$  | sort -h

Pipe to file

tree > directory-structure.txt
tree -J > structure.json

Comparison

# Before changes
tree > before.txt

# After changes
tree > after.txt

# Compare
diff before.txt after.txt

Shell alternative

# If tree not available
find . -print | sed -e 's;[^/]*/;|____;g;s;____|; |;g'