#1188·lsd

Feature request: limit number of files shown per directory in tree mode

Author: talCreated Feb 13, 2026Updated Feb 13, 2026

Feature Request

When using lsd --tree, directories with many files dominate the output and make it hard to get a quick overview of the directory structure. I'd love an option to limit the number of files displayed per directory (e.g., --max-items 4 or a max_items config option).

Use Case

I use lsd in tree mode to get a quick sense of what's in a folder structure. My goal is to see enough of each directory's contents to decide whether it's worth drilling into — not to see every file. When a folder has dozens or hundreds of files, the tree becomes unwieldy and the useful signal from other directories gets buried.

A truncation limit (e.g., show the first N files and then something like ... and 42 more) would let me scan the tree, spot folders with relevant-looking contents, and then explore those specifically.

Proposed Behavior

$ lsd --tree --depth 2 --max-items 4

 project/
├──  src/
│  ├──  index.ts
│  ├──  config.ts
│  ├──  utils.ts
│  ├──  router.ts
│  └──  ... (12 more)
├──  tests/
│  ├──  index.test.ts
│  └──  config.test.ts
└──  node_modules/
   ├──  express/
   ├──  lodash/
   ├──  typescript/
   ├──  eslint/
   └──  ... (847 more)

This could be a CLI flag (--max-items N) and/or a config.yaml option (max_items: N).

Prior Art