The "ls" command in Linux is used to list down the contents of the current working directory. "exa" is a replacement of the traditional "ls" command. The main functionality of "exa" is pretty much similar to that of the "ls" command, however, "exa" displays the files and directories in a much more colorful way hence making them all the more visually appealing.
Here at LinuxAPT, as part of our Server Management Services, we regularly help our Customers to perform related system tools queries on Linux systems.
In this context, we shall look into the installation method of "exa" on a Linux Mint 20 system since it is not a pre-installed tool of Linux.
To install "exa" on a Linux Mint 20 machine, you need to go through the steps outlined below.
1. Add system Dependencies
To begin, you have to add some relevant dependencies to your system before installing "exa" on it. These dependencies can be installed with the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install libgit2-dev cmake2. Install Rust
Here you can install Rust on your system with the command shown below:
$ curl https://sh.rustup.rs –sSf | sh
3. Clone the Relevant Git Repository to your System
Now, you need to clone the relevant Git repository to your system by running the command stated below:
$ git clone https://github.com/ogham/exa.git4. Move to the Target Directory:
Now, you need to move to the target directory so that you can install "exa" on your system. You can simply navigate to that directory by executing the following command:
$ cd exa5. Install "exa"
After moving to the target directory, you can install "exa" on your system by running the command shown below:
$ sudo make installThis article covers how to install "exa" on your system and use it as a replacement for the "ls" command in Linux Mint 20. In fact, exa is a modern replacement for the venerable file-listing command-line program ls that ships with Unix and Linux operating systems, giving it more features and better defaults. It uses colours to distinguish file types and metadata. It knows about symlinks, extended attributes, and Git. And it’s small, fast, and just one single binary. Using this modern tool will simply allow you to visualize your files and directories in Linux in a much better way.
