"ls -al * " not work

[michael]

>
> On Nov 23, 2007 10:54 AM, chloe K <chloekcy2000 at yahoo.ca> wrote:
> Hi
>
> My ls command not works  properly
> Are there many files problem?
>
> [host]# ls -al |wc -l
> 55264
>
> [host]# ls -al *.db |more
> -bash: /bin/ls: Argument list too long
>
> [host]# ls -al *
> -bash: /bin/ls: Argument list too long
> [host]# ls -al *.*
> -bash: /bin/ls: Argument list too long
>
>

check out the man page for 'xargs'  and then try

find . -print|xargs ls -al | less

takes a little getting used to but thereafter 'xargs' is one of your  
best mates

and do you really want to be root to do all this?