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Can you show/list all extended-attributes and how?

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4 Answers 4

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In Linux, independent of filesystem command to view file extended attributes is

getfattr -d -m ".*" <filename>

At last it show Selinux attributes.

getfattr -d <filename>

Show only user.* attributes.

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  • 4
    I'd suggest getfattr -d -m ^ -R -- <filename or directory>
    – Mikko Rantalainen
    Jul 2, 2019 at 7:19
  • @MikkoRantalainen why? Sorry, never used that before.
    – Yaroslav Nikitenko
    Sep 13, 2022 at 21:11
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    The -m ^ matches start of any string without need for escaping the parameter and double dash -- is needed as a separator in case the filename or directory starts with a dash.
    – Mikko Rantalainen
    Sep 14, 2022 at 14:22
  • This is technically not correct. Try using getfattr to list xattrs in the system namespace on an NTFS filesystem mounted via the ntfs-3g driver. Even as root they are not listed. However, one can get the value of the xattr, eg. system.ntfs_acl, if specifying the name of the xattr explicitly via the -n parameter. I've yet to see a way to have the system xattrs listed.
    – crass
    Oct 21, 2022 at 22:45
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    getfattr -d -m '' <filename or directory> also appears to list all xattrs, as an empty regex matches every string.
    – Markus Kuhn
    Feb 1 at 16:45
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getfattr is not present in my debian distribution. I use this instead:

lsattr <filename>
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    That is different attributes. "lsattr" lists "file attributes" which is a specific set of attributes available on ext* file systems. "getfattr" lists "extended attributes" which is a kind of name-value pairs available on several file systems. See the respective manual pages for details.
    – Göran Uddeborg
    May 31, 2020 at 21:46
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    This is misleading. The getfattr command is an official part of Ubuntu, and presumably Debian, but is in the attr package, which is not installed by default. Use apt install attr to get it. And it is indeed different than lsattr as noted by Göran.
    – nealmcb
    Dec 7, 2020 at 17:03
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    I-node flags (ext2 extended file attributes) is derived from the ext2 file system, but nowadays it is also available on other file systems. A minor supplement to @GöranUddeborg's comment.
    – Steve Lau
    Oct 13, 2022 at 3:13
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On a MacOs the Unix flavor is Darwin which is derived from BSD. In this version of Unix, use the command xattr to list (or create, write, or clear) the extended attributes.

xattr <filename> will just list the names of the attributes

xattr -l <filename> will list their names and values

xattr -h for a more succinct help message

man xattr for a detailed help message (ZZ to exit the help)

I found this command at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_file_attributes#macOS

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-1

The command to list all extended attributes is ls -l@.

An example (from my mac, linux/BSD will look different):

felixphew-mbp:/ felixphew$ ls -l@
total 45
drwxrwxr-x+ 63 root  admin  2142 27 Dec 17:49 Applications
drwxr-xr-x+ 62 root  wheel  2108 16 Nov 06:25 Library
drwxr-xr-x@  2 root  wheel    68 10 Sep 06:47 Network
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32 
drwxr-xr-x+  4 root  wheel   136  1 Nov 14:02 System
drwxr-xr-x   6 root  admin   204 28 Dec 07:36 Users
drwxrwxrwt@  3 root  admin   102 30 Dec 06:40 Volumes
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32 
drwxr-xr-x@ 39 root  wheel  1326 11 Nov 07:06 bin
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32 
drwxrwxr-t@  2 root  admin    68 10 Sep 06:47 cores
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32 
dr-xr-xr-x   3 root  wheel  4306 30 Dec 06:40 dev
lrwxr-xr-x@  1 root  wheel    11  1 Nov 13:56 etc -> private/etc
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32 
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel     1 30 Dec 06:40 home
-rw-r--r--@  1 root  wheel   313  1 Oct 16:12 installer.failurerequests
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32 
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel     1 30 Dec 06:40 net
drwxr-xr-x@  3 root  wheel   102 12 Aug 07:19 opt
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32 
drwxr-xr-x@  6 root  wheel   204  1 Nov 14:05 private
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32 
drwxr-xr-x@ 59 root  wheel  2006 18 Nov 07:46 sbin
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32 
drwxr-xr-x@  3 root  wheel   102 22 Dec 07:46 srv
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32 
lrwxr-xr-x@  1 root  wheel    11  1 Nov 13:57 tmp -> private/tmp
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32 
drwxr-xr-x@ 13 root  wheel   442 23 Nov 11:20 usr
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32 
lrwxr-xr-x@  1 root  wheel    11  1 Nov 13:57 var -> private/var
    com.apple.FinderInfo      32

The same dir in ls -l:

felixphew-mbp:/ felixphew$ ls -l
total 45
drwxrwxr-x+ 63 root  admin  2142 27 Dec 17:49 Applications
drwxr-xr-x+ 62 root  wheel  2108 16 Nov 06:25 Library
drwxr-xr-x@  2 root  wheel    68 10 Sep 06:47 Network
drwxr-xr-x+  4 root  wheel   136  1 Nov 14:02 System
drwxr-xr-x   6 root  admin   204 28 Dec 07:36 Users
drwxrwxrwt@  3 root  admin   102 30 Dec 06:40 Volumes
drwxr-xr-x@ 39 root  wheel  1326 11 Nov 07:06 bin
drwxrwxr-t@  2 root  admin    68 10 Sep 06:47 cores
dr-xr-xr-x   3 root  wheel  4306 30 Dec 06:40 dev
lrwxr-xr-x@  1 root  wheel    11  1 Nov 13:56 etc -> private/etc
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel     1 30 Dec 06:40 home
-rw-r--r--@  1 root  wheel   313  1 Oct 16:12 installer.failurerequests
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel     1 30 Dec 06:40 net
drwxr-xr-x@  3 root  wheel   102 12 Aug 07:19 opt
drwxr-xr-x@  6 root  wheel   204  1 Nov 14:05 private
drwxr-xr-x@ 59 root  wheel  2006 18 Nov 07:46 sbin
drwxr-xr-x@  3 root  wheel   102 22 Dec 07:46 srv
lrwxr-xr-x@  1 root  wheel    11  1 Nov 13:57 tmp -> private/tmp
drwxr-xr-x@ 13 root  wheel   442 23 Nov 11:20 usr
lrwxr-xr-x@  1 root  wheel    11  1 Nov 13:57 var -> private/var
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  • 26
    The @ argument given to ls is an invalid option on linux. I looked up the @ option and this is specific to mac OS-X. This question is specific to linux.
    – Trevor Boyd Smith
    Dec 29, 2014 at 20:18
  • 1
    Glad to know the option @ on macOS, thank you.
    – Bruce
    Jan 21, 2022 at 2:16

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