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Linux du command examples | alvinalexander.com http://alvinalexander.com/unix/edu/examples/du.shtml
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Linux disk usage FAQ: How do I show

disk usage information on a Unix or
Linux system, such as how large a
directory is?
The Unix and Linux du command

shows information about "disk usage".
Whereas the df command
("disk free") shows information about
Linux filesystems, the du command
shows disk usage information about
only the files and directories you
specify.
I most commonly use the du

command to show Linux directory
size, i.e., how large my subdirectories
are, including all the files and
subdirectories they contain. For
2 of 11 5/27/17, 10:36 PM
example, on the Mac OS X 10.5

system (a Unix system) I'm currently
working on, the following du
command example displays the size of
each subdirectory under my current
directory:
$ du -hs *
60K Burn-an-ISO
1.2M BurnFolders
4.3M CreateAPodcast-1
16M CreateAPodcast-3
2.5M Java-Mac-Jar-Bundler
1.3M Java-on-Mac
With that command, the -h option of the du command means

"human readable" (as in "show me MB and GB"), and the -s
means "only show summary information". It's important to note
that this command runs in real time, so for very large
directories, it can be slow to return your results.
Also, in that du command example, I knew that my current

directory just contained the subdirectories shown, so I just issued that du command
followed by the "*" wildcard character. If, in a more complicated world, I just wanted to
see the size of a few subdirectories in a directory that contained many more subdirectories,
I could just specify the directories of interest, like this:
$ du -hs Dir1 Dir2 Dir3
3 of 11 5/27/17, 10:36 PM
As you can see in the following example, if I take the -s option off my du command I do
indeed get much more detailed output, like this:
$ du -h *
60K Burn-an-ISO
376K BurnFolders/BurnFolders
188K BurnFolders/images
296K BurnFolders/images-orig
1.2M BurnFolders
568K CreateAPodcast-1/CreateAPodcast
1.1M CreateAPodcast-1/images/Original
2.4M CreateAPodcast-1/images
628K CreateAPodcast-1/L2HBackups
28K CreateAPodcast-1/OldCSSFiles
868K CreateAPodcast-2/CreateAPodcast
740K CreateAPodcast-2/images
3.8M CreateAPodcast-3/CreateAPodcast
1.8M CreateAPodcast-3/images/bg-track
720K CreateAPodcast-3/images/copying
668K CreateAPodcast-3/images/external-track
688K CreateAPodcast-3/images/joining
828K CreateAPodcast-3/images/new-track
1.1M CreateAPodcast-3/images/splitting
6.0M CreateAPodcast-3/images
1.2M CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig/bg-track
468K CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig/copying
444K CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig/external-track
464K CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig/joining
556K CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig/new-track
768K CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig/splitting
3.9M CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig
16M CreateAPodcast-3
200K Java-Mac-Jar-Bundler/images
676K Java-Mac-Jar-Bundler/images copy
808K Java-Mac-Jar-Bundler/images-old
328K Java-Mac-Jar-Bundler/java-on-mac
2.5M Java-Mac-Jar-Bundler
308K Java-on-Mac/images
448K Java-on-Mac/java-on-mac
4 of 11 5/27/17, 10:36 PM
1.3M Java-on-Mac
I'll guess that at least 95% of the time I use the -s option, because I'm usually tracking
down large directories, or I want to see the directory size before I create an archive.
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If you're trying to find large files, sorting the output of the du command can be one
approach. I find that leaving off the -h option and dealing with "block" output works
better for sorting:
$ du * | sort -n
That du/sort command results in this output:
56 CreateAPodcast-1/OldCSSFiles
120 Burn-an-ISO
376 BurnFolders/images
400 Java-Mac-Jar-Bundler/images
592 BurnFolders/images-orig
616 Java-on-Mac/images
5 of 11 5/27/17, 10:36 PM
656 Java-Mac-Jar-Bundler/java-on-mac
752 BurnFolders/BurnFolders
888 CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig/external-track
896 Java-on-Mac/java-on-mac
928 CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig/joining
936 CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig/copying
1112 CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig/new-track
1136 CreateAPodcast-1/CreateAPodcast
1256 CreateAPodcast-1/L2HBackups
1336 CreateAPodcast-3/images/external-track
1352 Java-Mac-Jar-Bundler/images copy
1376 CreateAPodcast-3/images/joining
1440 CreateAPodcast-3/images/copying
1480 CreateAPodcast-2/images
1536 CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig/splitting
1616 Java-Mac-Jar-Bundler/images-old
1656 CreateAPodcast-3/images/new-track
2152 CreateAPodcast-1/images/Original
2304 CreateAPodcast-3/images/splitting
2448 BurnFolders
2528 CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig/bg-track
2704 Java-on-Mac
3776 CreateAPodcast-3/images/bg-track
4208 CreateAPodcast-2
5056 Java-Mac-Jar-Bundler
7944 CreateAPodcast-3/images-orig
I may not be very good at working with block size, but I can tell that the
CreateAPodcast-3 folder is far and away the largest subdirectory in my current
directory.
For more information on the Linux du command, you can look at the "man page" for du
on your current Unix system, like this:
6 of 11 5/27/17, 10:36 PM
$ man du
I just added an online version of the Linux du man page here, so you can use that if it's
easier.
Also, if you have any Linux du command examples you'd like to share, please add them to
our comments section below.
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There’s just one person behind this website; if this article was helpful (or interesting), I’d
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Linux du command examples | alvinalexander.com http://alvinalexander.com/unix/edu/examples/du.

Linux disk usage FAQ: How do I show

The Unix and Linux du command

I most commonly use the du

example, on the Mac OS X 10.5

With that command, the -h option of the du command means

Also, in that du command example, I knew that my current

$ du -hs Dir1 Dir2 Dir3

ivee international™ Stereo Jack Y Splitter Cable …

Rs. 199.00 (details + delivery)

That du/sort command results in this output:

Quantum QHM623 … Wi-Fi Receiver …

books i’ve written

Add new comment

About text formats

By submitting this form, you accept the Mollom privacy policy.

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