du

du linux command cheatsheet by Thamizhiniyan C S

Introduction

du is a command in linux (short for disk usage) which helps you identify what files/directories are consuming how much space.

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Syntax

du [OPTION]... [FILE]...

du [OPTION]... --files0-from=F

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Important Flags

Flag	Description
-0, --null	End each output line with NULL
-a or --all	Displays disk usage information for all files and directories, including hidden ones.
--apparent-size	Print apparent sizes, rather than disk usage
-B, --block-size=SIZE	Scale sizes to SIZE before printing on console
-c or --total	Shows the total disk usage in addition to individual usage for directories and files.
-d, --max-depth=N	Print total for directory only if it is N or fewer levels below command line argument
-h or --human-readable	Displays sizes in human-readable format, using units such as KB, MB, GB, etc. This option makes it easier to interpret the disk usage information.
-S, -separate-dirs	For directories, don’t include size of subdirectories
-s or --summarize	Provides a summary of the disk usage for the specified directory or file, without displaying individual usage details for subdirectories.
--time	Show time of last modification of any file or directory
--exclude	Excludes specific directories or files from disk usage calculation based on patterns or names.

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Examples

Command	Description
du -a /home	To display the disk usage information for all files and directories, including hidden ones in the home directory.
du -h /home	You can print sizes in human-readable format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G), using the `-h` option.
du -a -h /home	Combine `-a` and `-h` flags together to check all files and folder sizes.
du -c -h /home	Use -c option to print total size
du -d 1 /home	To print sizes to particular level, use -d option with level no.
du -d 2 /home	Now try with level 2, you will get some extra directories
du -s /home	Get summary of file system using -s option
du -sh --apparent-size /home	Print apparent sizes, rather than disk usage; although the apparent size is usually smaller, it may be larger due to holes in (‘sparse’) files, internal fragmentation, indirect blocks, and the like.
du --time -h /home	Get the timestamp of last modified using --time option
du --time -d 1 /home/	Check the timestamp of the last modification of files and directories to 1 level.
du --max-depth=1 /path	To find the largest directories, you can use the du command with the --max-depth option.
du -h /path	The du command supports the -h option to display sizes in a human-readable format (e.g., KB, MB, GB).
find /path -type f -exec du -h {} + | sort -rh | head -n 10	You can combine the find command with du to identify large files.
du -h --exclude=/path/to/exclude /path	To exclude specific directories, use the --exclude option with the du command.