How to Find Disk Usage of Files and Directories in Linux

ByContributor

The Linux ‘du‘ (Disk Usage) is a standard Unix/Linux command used to check the disk usage information of files and directories on a machine.

The du command has many parameter options that can be used to get the results in many formats. The du command also displays the files and directory sizes in a recursive manner.

This article explains useful ‘du‘ commands with examples, which can help you determine the sizes of files and directories in Linux. The information provided in this article is sourced from the ‘du‘ command’s man pages.

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How to Find the Size of a Directory in Linux

1. To obtain a summary of disk usage for a directory tree ‘/home/tecmint‘ and its subdirectories, use the following command.

# du /home/tecmint 4 /home/tecmint/bin
4 /home/tecmint/.ffbinaries-cache
672 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea
676 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache
680 /home/tecmint/.openjfx
36 /home/tecmint/.ssh
92 /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml
96 /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/xfconf
12 /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/desktop
...
56758808	/home/tecmint

The output of the above command displays the number of disk blocks in the /home/tecmint directory along with its sub-directories.

Find Disk Usage of Directory
Find Disk Usage of Directory

How to Find the Directory Size in Human Readable Format

2. By employing the '-h' option with the ‘du‘ command, you can obtain results in a ‘Human Readable Format‘, which enables you to view sizes in units such as Bytes, Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes, and so on.

# du -h /home/tecmint 4.0K /home/tecmint/bin
4.0K /home/tecmint/.ffbinaries-cache
672K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea
676K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache
680K /home/tecmint/.openjfx
36K /home/tecmint/.ssh
92K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml
96K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/xfconf
12K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/desktop
...
55G	/home/tecmint
Check Disk Usage of Directory
Check Disk Usage of Directory

How to Find Total Size of a Directory in Linux

3. To obtain a summary of the total disk usage size for a directory, use the '-s' option as follows.

# du -sh /home/tecmint 55G	/home/tecmint
Find Directory Size in Linux
Find Directory Size in Linux

4. Utilizing the '-a' flag with the ‘du‘ command displays the disk usage of all files and directories.

# du -a /home/tecmint 4 /home/tecmint/fix-deb-src-error-ubuntu
4 /home/tecmint/tecmint.py
0 /home/tecmint/bin/FoxitReader
4 /home/tecmint/bin
4 /home/tecmint/.ffbinaries-cache
52 /home/tecmint/Eclipse-with-PyDev.jpg
300 /home/tecmint/Screenshot from 2023-07-27 14-02-45.png
16 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libglass.so
28 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libjavafx_font_pango.so
20 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libjavafx_font.so
64 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libprism_es2.so
512 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libglassgtk3.so
...
56759528	/home/tecmint
Check File and Directory Size
Check File and Directory Size

5. Employing the '-a' flag along with '-h' displays the disk usage of all files and folders in a human-readable format. The resulting output is easier to comprehend, as it presents file sizes in units such as Kilobytes, Megabytes, and so on.

# du -ah /home/tecmint 4.0K /home/tecmint/fix-deb-src-error-ubuntu
4.0K /home/tecmint/tecmint.py
28K /home/tecmint/download.php?file=%2Foomph%2Fepp%2F2023-06%2FR%2Feclipse-inst-jre-linux64.tar.gz.1
0 /home/tecmint/bin/FoxitReader
4.0K /home/tecmint/bin
4.0K /home/tecmint/.ffbinaries-cache
52K /home/tecmint/Eclipse-with-PyDev.jpg
300K /home/tecmint/Screenshot from 2023-07-27 14-02-45.png
16K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libglass.so
28K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libjavafx_font_pango.so
20K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libjavafx_font.so
64K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libprism_es2.so
512K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libglassgtk3.so
...
55G	/home/tecmint
List File and Directory Size
List File and Directory Size

6. To determine the disk usage of a directory tree and its subdirectories in Kilobyte blocks, utilize the '-k' option (displays sizes in 1024 bytes units).

# du -k /home/tecmint 4 /home/tecmint/bin
4 /home/tecmint/.ffbinaries-cache
672 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea
676 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache
680 /home/tecmint/.openjfx
8 /home/tecmint/.uk.co.screamingfrog.seospider.ui.b/webview
12 /home/tecmint/.uk.co.screamingfrog.seospider.ui.b
36 /home/tecmint/.ssh
92 /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml
96 /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/xfconf
12 /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/desktop
4 /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/xfwm4
8 /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-18
8 /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-17
8 /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-14
8 /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-3
8 /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-16
8 /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-5
...
56769128	/home/tecmint

7. To obtain a summary of the disk usage for a directory tree, including its subdirectories, in Megabytes (MB) only, use the '-mh' option as follows. The '-m' flag counts the blocks in MB units and '-h' stands for human-readable format.

# du -mh /home/tecmint 4.0K /home/tecmint/bin
4.0K /home/tecmint/.ffbinaries-cache
672K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea
676K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache
680K /home/tecmint/.openjfx
8.0K /home/tecmint/.uk.co.screamingfrog.seospider.ui.b/webview
12K /home/tecmint/.uk.co.screamingfrog.seospider.ui.b
36K /home/tecmint/.ssh
92K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml
96K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/xfconf
12K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/desktop
4.0K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/xfwm4
8.0K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-18
8.0K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-17
8.0K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-14
8.0K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-3
...
55G	/home/tecmint

8. The '-c' flag provides a grand total of the disk space usage at the last line. If your directory takes up 55GB of space, then the last two lines of the output would appear as follows.

# du -ch /home/tecmint 4.0K /home/tecmint/bin
4.0K /home/tecmint/.ffbinaries-cache
672K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea
676K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache
680K /home/tecmint/.openjfx
8.0K /home/tecmint/.uk.co.screamingfrog.seospider.ui.b/webview
12K /home/tecmint/.uk.co.screamingfrog.seospider.ui.b
36K /home/tecmint/.ssh
92K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml
96K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/xfconf
12K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/desktop
4.0K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/xfwm4
8.0K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-18
8.0K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-17
8.0K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-14
8.0K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-3
8.0K /home/tecmint/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-16
...
55G	/home/tecmint
55G	total

How to Exclude Files with du Command

9. The following command calculates and displays the disk usage of all files and directories, excluding files that match the given pattern.

In the provided example, the command excludes '.txt' files when calculating the total size of a directory. This approach allows you to exclude specific file formats using the '--exclude' flag.

Upon reviewing the output, you’ll notice the absence of entries for '.txt' files.

# du -ah --exclude="*.txt" /home/tecmint 4.0K /home/tecmint/fix-deb-src-error-ubuntu
4.0K /home/tecmint/tecmint.py
0 /home/tecmint/bin/FoxitReader
4.0K /home/tecmint/bin
4.0K /home/tecmint/.ffbinaries-cache
52K /home/tecmint/Eclipse-with-PyDev.jpg
300K /home/tecmint/Screenshot from 2023-07-27 14-02-45.png
16K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libglass.so
28K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libjavafx_font_pango.so
20K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libjavafx_font.so
64K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libprism_es2.so
512K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libglassgtk3.so
28K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libjavafx_font_freetype.so
672K /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea
...
55G	/home/tecmint

How to Find Directory Usage By Modification Time

10. To display disk usage based on the modification time, use the '--time' flag as shown below.

# du -ha --time /home/tecmint 4.0K 2023-07-06 13:15 /home/tecmint/fix-deb-src-error-ubuntu
4.0K 2023-06-14 12:50 /home/tecmint/tecmint.py
0 2021-12-07 12:26 /home/tecmint/bin/FoxitReader
4.0K 2021-12-07 12:26 /home/tecmint/bin
4.0K 2022-10-10 11:02 /home/tecmint/.ffbinaries-cache
52K 2023-05-12 12:09 /home/tecmint/Eclipse-with-PyDev.jpg
300K 2023-07-27 14:02 /home/tecmint/Screenshot from 2023-07-27 14-02-45.png
16K 2022-10-01 12:41 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libglass.so
28K 2022-10-01 12:41 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libjavafx_font_pango.so
20K 2022-10-01 12:41 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libjavafx_font.so
64K 2022-10-01 12:41 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libprism_es2.so
512K 2022-10-01 12:41 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libglassgtk3.so
28K 2022-10-01 12:41 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea/libjavafx_font_freetype.so
672K 2022-10-01 12:41 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache/17.0.3-ea
676K 2022-10-01 12:41 /home/tecmint/.openjfx/cache
...
55G	2023-08-14 10:22	/home/tecmint

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The du command is versatile and can be tailored to your needs using various options and flags. Use man du in the terminal for more detailed information about its options and usage.

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