How do I `cd` and then* `ls` automatically in linux?

I have found myself keep doing cd some_dir quickly followed by ls for quite some time now, and have been trying to write a bash alias to let me do this, such as:

alas cd="cd $@; ls";

Problem with this is you can't have an input argument in the middle of an alias (correct me if I'm wrong).

I've also tried defining my own shell function as suggested by this page:

cd() { cd "$@"; ls; }

But the problem with this one is if I try to use it like so:

cd Documents

the shell exits with [Process completed], rendering the shell useless... So how should I get around this?

Solution 1:

Try this:

cd() { builtin cd "$@" && ls; }

builtin makes the cd inside the function invoke the builtin cd command rather than trying to call the function recursively.

Solution 2:

In GNU Bash,

PROMPT_COMMAND=ls

Solution 3:

I have come up with a Bash script that should work to make this happen.

# Automatically do an ls after each cd
cd() {
  if [ -n "$1" ]; then
    builtin cd "$@" && ls --group-directories-first
  else
    builtin cd ~ && ls --group-directories-first
  fi
}