The ls command displays directory content in the Linux terminal and, by default, sorts the output in alphabetical order. Sometimes you'll need to change the sort order to reverse, and you can do that both from ls itself or by piping the output to an external program.

ls has the sort function built-in, is very flexible, and works well with other ls options. On the other hand, sort is a dedicated external program to sorting output with its advantages.

Steps to list directory content in reverse in Linux:

  1. Launch terminal.
  2. List directory content using ls. 

    $ ls Applications Documents    Dropbox      Movies       Pictures     System       tmp Desktop      Downloads    Library      Music        Public       Workspace

  3. Pipe ls program to sort to display result in reverse.

    $ ls | sort -r tmp Workspace System Public Pictures Music Movies Library Dropbox Downloads Documents Desktop Applications

  4. List directory content in reverse using ls. 

    $ ls -r tmp          System       Pictures     Movies       Dropbox      Documents    Applications Workspace    Public       Music        Library      Downloads    Desktop

  5. List directory content based on access time or other options.

    $ ls -lt total 0 drwxr-xr-x  12 user  group   384 Jul 21 09:50 Workspace drwx------@ 19 user  group   608 Jul  4 15:18 Dropbox drwx------+  6 user  group   192 Jul  4 11:47 Movies drwx------@ 83 user  group  2656 Jun 27 14:11 Library drwx------+  6 user  group   192 Jun 25 16:13 Music lrwx------@  1 user  group    41 Jun 25 15:22 Desktop -> Library/CloudStorage/iCloud Drive/Desktop lrwx------@  1 user  group    43 Jun 25 15:22 Documents -> Library/CloudStorage/iCloud Drive/Documents drwx------+  6 user  group   192 Jun 25 15:18 Pictures drwxr-xr-x   3 user  group    96 Aug  4  2018 System lrwxr-xr-x   1 user  group    28 Jul 10  2018 Downloads -> /Volumes/SD/user/Downloads lrwxr-xr-x   1 user  group    22 Jul 10  2018 tmp -> /Volumes/SD/user/tmp drwx------@  4 user  group   128 Jun 28  2018 Applications drwxr-xr-x+  4 user  group   128 Jun 28  2018 Public

  6. Sort directory content for the specific option in reverse. 

    $ ls -lrt total 0 drwxr-xr-x+  4 user  group   128 Jun 28  2018 Public drwx------@  4 user  group   128 Jun 28  2018 Applications lrwxr-xr-x   1 user  group    22 Jul 10  2018 tmp -> /Volumes/SD/user/tmp lrwxr-xr-x   1 user  group    28 Jul 10  2018 Downloads -> /Volumes/SD/user/Downloads drwxr-xr-x   3 user  group    96 Aug  4  2018 System drwx------+  6 user  group   192 Jun 25 15:18 Pictures lrwx------@  1 user  group    43 Jun 25 15:22 Documents -> Library/CloudStorage/iCloud Drive/Documents lrwx------@  1 user  group    41 Jun 25 15:22 Desktop -> Library/CloudStorage/iCloud Drive/Desktop drwx------+  6 user  group   192 Jun 25 16:13 Music drwx------@ 83 user  group  2656 Jun 27 14:11 Library drwx------+  6 user  group   192 Jul  4 11:47 Movies drwx------@ 19 user  group   608 Jul  4 15:18 Dropbox drwxr-xr-x  12 user  group   384 Jul 21 09:50 Workspace