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.
Syntax
du [OPTION]... [FILE]...
du [OPTION]... --files0-from=F
Important Flags
Flag | Description |
---|---|
| End each output line with NULL |
| Displays disk usage information for all files and directories, including hidden ones. |
| Print apparent sizes, rather than disk usage |
| Scale sizes to SIZE before printing on console |
| Shows the total disk usage in addition to individual usage for directories and files. |
| Print total for directory only if it is N or fewer levels below command line argument |
| 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. |
| For directories, don’t include size of subdirectories |
| Provides a summary of the disk usage for the specified directory or file, without displaying individual usage details for subdirectories. |
| Show time of last modification of any file or directory |
| Excludes specific directories or files from disk usage calculation based on patterns or names. |
Examples
Command | Description |
---|---|
To display the disk usage information for all files and directories, including hidden ones in the home directory. | |
You can print sizes in human-readable format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G), using the `-h` option. | |
Combine `-a` and `-h` flags together to check all files and folder sizes. | |
Use -c option to print total size | |
To print sizes to particular level, use -d option with level no. | |
Now try with level 2, you will get some extra directories | |
Get summary of file system using -s option | |
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. | |
Get the timestamp of last modified using --time option | |
Check the timestamp of the last modification of files and directories to 1 level. | |
To find the largest directories, you can use the du command with the --max-depth option. | |
The du command supports the -h option to display sizes in a human-readable format (e.g., KB, MB, GB). | |
You can combine the find command with du to identify large files. | |
To exclude specific directories, use the --exclude option with the du command. |
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