Linux: Find Out Directory Size Command

Author: Vivek Gite Last updated: June 9, 2013 11 comments

I am a new Linux user. How do I find out size of a directory on Linux operating systems using command line options?

You need to use the du command:

Tutorial details
Difficulty	Easy (rss)
Root privileges	No
Requirements	du
Time	Less than a one minute

Syntax

The basic syntax is:

du du dirName du [options] dirName

Examples

Without any options, du command shows the names and used space for each directories including all sub-directories in the current directory:
du
Sample outputs:

Fig.01: du command in action

To find information about /etc and /home/nixcraft directory, enter:
du /path/to/dir du /etc du /home/nixcraft du /root /home/nixcraft

Pass the -h option to get output in human readable format i.e. show output in kilobytes (K), megabytes (M) and gigabytes (G):
du -h /etc du -h /dir1/file2 du -h /root du -h
Sample outputs:

8.0K	./.vim
24K	./scripts
48K	./.ssh
16K	./.keychain
2.2M	./.lftp
2.4M	.

Pass the -s option to see the total disk space used by a directory:
du -sh du -sh /etc/ du -sh /etc /home/ /securebackup/
Sample outputs:

4.1M	/etc
152K	/home/
902M	/securebackup/

Pass the -c to see a grand total for all of the files, type:
du -csh /root/ /etc/ /home/
Sample outputs:

2.4M	/root/
4.1M	/etc/
152K	/home/
6.6M	total

Category	List of Unix and Linux commands
File Management	cat
Firewall	CentOS 8 • OpenSUSE • RHEL 8 • Ubuntu 16.04 • Ubuntu 18.04 • Ubuntu 20.04
Network Utilities	dig • host • ip • nmap
OpenVPN	CentOS 7 • CentOS 8 • Debian 10 • Debian 8/9 • Ubuntu 18.04 • Ubuntu 20.04
Package Manager	apk • apt
Processes Management	bg • chroot • cron • disown • fg • jobs • killall • kill • pidof • pstree • pwdx • time
Searching	grep • whereis • which
User Information	groups • id • lastcomm • last • lid/libuser-lid • logname • members • users • whoami • who • w
WireGuard VPN	CentOS 8 • Debian 10 • Firewall • Ubuntu 20.04

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11 comments… add one

Mahdi Jun 9, 2013 @ 22:23
Thank you very much!
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kgas Jun 10, 2013 @ 11:30
another good one is ncdu
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- tom Mar 16, 2014 @ 20:08
  ncdu is nice, thanks for that tip
  Reply Link
bart Jun 10, 2013 @ 13:49
“du -sh * | sort -r -n”
Show all current files + directories with their size and sort them so that the largest file/folder shows on top and the smallest at the bottom.
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- mosi Mar 18, 2014 @ 15:59
  thanks sir for this impressive command :)
  Reply Link
  - Finn Mar 30, 2014 @ 16:06
    That should be “du -sh * | sort -r -h”
    -n doesn’t take into account the K/M factor, -h does!
    If you want largest at the bottom:
    “du -sh * | sort -h”
    Reply Link
meow Jun 10, 2013 @ 14:51
When I read the title the first command came to my mind is “du”.
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na3r Jun 30, 2013 @ 19:41
another usefull command to determine directory size is
du -h | sort -h
it sorts directory by size
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Bogdan Oct 22, 2013 @ 16:51

Another good option to show disk usage is to limit only to one level, you don’t need all information from all folders each time.

du -h –max-depth=1

It will be faster and it won’t show you lots of information

root@bogdan:/root# du -h --max-depth=1
2.9M	./.nbi
948K	./.local
104K	./.gconf
12K	./.gnome2
4.0K	./.gnome2_private
44K	./.filezilla
356K	./.cache
12K	./Desktop
4.0K	./.gvfs
1.2M	./.gem
12K	./.dbus
86M	./.cpan
26M	./perl5
1.5M	./.java
80K	./.config
16K	./.ssh
4.0K	./.pulse
165M	.

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rueben Nov 9, 2013 @ 15:57
…and if you don’t want to type out –max-depth=1…
du -sh *
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- vincent Dec 19, 2013 @ 14:49
  This command is a bit different.
  It shows the files under top-level directory, but doesn’t show the total size of the directory.
  while with –max-depth=1
  it does not show the files, but will show the total size.
  In terms of the size of the first-level sub-directories, they are the same.
  Reply Link

Linux: Find Out Directory Size Command

Syntax

Examples

See also