listing a huge amount of file on one file system

[Miner, Jonathan W (CSC) (US SSA)]

> long waits while trying to list a directory with a huge amount of files in it?  
 
By default, `ls` and `ls -l` will try to sort the entries, which could be very time (and memory) consuming especially with the number of files you said you have.

Try using `ls -f` or `ls -fl` which will not sort the entries.  Further information is available on the LS(1) man page.