Install tree with Homebrew, apk, chocolatey, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• tree

Project history

Steve Baker's README describes tree as a handy utility he had written earlier to display a directory tree and later released after adding color support. The man page identifies the program as copyright 1996-2026 and describes it as listing directory contents in a tree-like format.

The command grew by accretion in the Unix tradition. Early releases added filtering, modification-time sorting, ownership display, dircolors support, ANSI line drawing, HTML output, output redirection, depth limits, recursive HTML generation, portability fixes, and symlink handling.

Later releases made tree more useful for scripts and modern repositories: XML output, JSON output, UTF-8 handling, file-size sorting, gitignore support, NO_COLOR support, hyperlink output, from-file modes, ACL/SELinux display, and extensive portability fixes across Linux, macOS, Solaris, Cygwin, OS/2, HP NonStop, and other systems.

Adoption history

tree became one of those small commands many users expect even though it is not part of every base system. Its broad package-manager presence reflects that: Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, MacPorts, Nix, Chocolatey, and others package a compatible `tree` executable.

Its adoption is driven less by a framework ecosystem than by muscle memory: README examples, dotfile screenshots, CI diagnostics, support tickets, and filesystem explanations often become easier once a directory hierarchy can be pasted as text.

How it is used

Common use is simply `tree` or `tree DIR`, with options such as `-L` for depth, `-a` for hidden files, `-d` for directories only, `-I` or `-P` for filtering, `-J` for JSON, `-X` for XML, and `-H` for HTML.

In package-nerd culture, tree is both a diagnostic tool and a packaging sanity check: after install, after build, or inside a fixture, it gives a compact visual proof of what files landed where.

Why package nerds care

tree is significant because it turns filesystem shape into a stable text artifact. That makes it unusually useful in package recipes, bug reports, documentation, and tests where `find` is correct but hard to read.

Timeline

• 1996: Man page copyright range begins, matching the early public life of the Unix tree utility.
• 1997: version 1.2 adds date sorting, ignore patterns, name display controls, ownership output, and fuller dircolors support.
• 1999: version 1.3 adds HTML output, output redirection, depth limits, portability work, and symlink fixes.
• 2004: version 1.5.0 adds locale/UTF-8 work, OS/2 support, charset options, and switches license text to GPLv2.
• 2014: version 1.7.0 adds JSON output and more sorting and matching options.
• 2021: version 2.0.0 adds gitignore support and refactors output handling.
• 2026: version 2.3.2 continues portability and output fixes.

Related projects

• tree overlaps with `find`, `ls`, `du`, and `git status --ignored`, but optimizes for readable hierarchy output rather than exhaustive query language.
• Its HTML, XML, and JSON modes made it useful beyond interactive terminal browsing.

Sources

• https://github.com/Old-Man-Programmer/tree
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Old-Man-Programmer/tree/master/CHANGES
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Old-Man-Programmer/tree/master/README
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Old-Man-Programmer/tree/master/doc/tree.1