If you want to flatten the directory structure (thus sorting by date over all files in all directories, ignoring what directory the files are in) the `find`-approach suggested by @yeti is the way to go. If you want to preserve directory structure, you might try

 $ ls -ltR /path/to/directory

which sorts directory based. 


Alternatively, if you want a recursive (`-R`) listing, and you want the files listed in reverse (`-r`) order (*i.e.* *from **oldest** to **newest***):

```bash
$ ls -ltrR /path/to/directory
```