Logo
  • Ubuntu
  • CentOS
  • Debian
  • Fedora
  • RedHat

How to Find Out Top Directories and Files (Disk Space) in Linux - DesignLinux

Sep 01 2021
designlinux 0 Comments

As a Linux administrator, you must periodically check which files and folders are consuming more disk space. It is very necessary to find unnecessary junk and free up them from your hard disk.

This brief tutorial describes how to find the largest files and folders in the Linux file system using du (disk usage) and find command. If you want to learn more about these two commands, then head over to the following articles.

  • Learn 10 Useful ‘du’ (Disk Usage) Commands in Linux
  • Master the ‘Find’ Command with these 35 Practical Examples

How to Find Biggest Files and Directories in Linux

Run the following command to find out top biggest directories under /home partition.

# du -a /home | sort -n -r | head -n 5
Find Largest Directories in Linux
Find Largest Directories in Linux

The above command displays the biggest 5 directories of my /home partition.

Find Largest Directories in Linux

If you want to display the biggest directories in the current working directory, run:

# du -a | sort -n -r | head -n 5
Find Biggest Directories Only
Find Biggest Directories Only

Let us break down the command and see what says each parameter.

  1. du command: Estimate file space usage.
  2. a : Displays all files and folders.
  3. sort command : Sort lines of text files.
  4. -n : Compare according to string numerical value.
  5. -r : Reverse the result of comparisons.
  6. head : Output the first part of files.
  7. -n : Print the first ‘n’ lines. (In our case, We displayed the first 5 lines).

Some of you would like to display the above result in human-readable format. i.e you might want to display the largest files in KB, MB, or GB.

# du -hs * | sort -rh | head -5
Find Top Directories Sizes in Linux
Find Top Directories Sizes in Linux

The above command will show the top directories, which are eating up more disk space. If you feel that some directories are not important, you can simply delete a few sub-directories or delete the entire folder to free up some space.

To display the largest folders/files including the sub-directories, run:

# du -Sh | sort -rh | head -5
Find Largest Folder and Sub directories
Find Largest Folder and Subdirectories

Find out the meaning of each option using in above command:

  1. du command: Estimate file space usage.
  2. -h : Print sizes in human-readable format (e.g., 10MB).
  3. -S : Do not include the size of subdirectories.
  4. -s : Display only a total for each argument.
  5. sort command : sort lines of text files.
  6. -r : Reverse the result of comparisons.
  7. -h : Compare human readable numbers (e.g., 2K, 1G).
  8. head : Output the first part of files.

Find Out Top File Sizes Only

If you want to display the biggest file sizes only, then run the following command:

# find -type f -exec du -Sh {} + | sort -rh | head -n 5
Find Top File Sizes in Linux
Find Top File Sizes in Linux

To find the largest files in a particular location, just include the path beside the find command:

# find /home/tecmint/Downloads/ -type f -exec du -Sh {} + | sort -rh | head -n 5
OR
# find /home/tecmint/Downloads/ -type f -printf "%s %p\n" | sort -rn | head -n 5
Find Top File Size in Specific Location
Find Top File Size in Specific Location

The above command will display the largest file from /home/tecmint/Downloads directory.

That’s all for now. Finding the biggest files and folders is no big deal. Even a novice administrator can easily find them. If you find this tutorial useful, please share it on your social networks and support TecMint.

Related

Tags: Linux Tricks

How to Kill Linux Process Using Kill, Pkill and Killall

Prev Post

10 sFTP Command Examples to Transfer Files on Remote Servers in Linux

Next Post
Archives
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
Categories
  • AlmaLinux
  • Android
  • Ansible
  • Apache
  • Arch Linux
  • AWS
  • Backups
  • Bash Shell
  • Bodhi Linux
  • CentOS
  • CentOS Stream
  • Chef
  • Cloud Software
  • CMS
  • Commandline Tools
  • Control Panels
  • CouchDB
  • Data Recovery Tools
  • Databases
  • Debian
  • Deepin Linux
  • Desktops
  • Development Tools
  • Docker
  • Download Managers
  • Drupal
  • Editors
  • Elementary OS
  • Encryption Tools
  • Fedora
  • Firewalls
  • FreeBSD
  • FTP
  • GIMP
  • Git
  • Hadoop
  • HAProxy
  • Java
  • Jenkins
  • Joomla
  • Kali Linux
  • KDE
  • Kubernetes
  • KVM
  • Laravel
  • Let's Encrypt
  • LFCA
  • Linux Certifications
  • Linux Commands
  • Linux Desktop
  • Linux Distros
  • Linux IDE
  • Linux Mint
  • Linux Talks
  • Lubuntu
  • LXC
  • Mail Server
  • Manjaro
  • MariaDB
  • MongoDB
  • Monitoring Tools
  • MySQL
  • Network
  • Networking Commands
  • NFS
  • Nginx
  • Nodejs
  • NTP
  • Open Source
  • OpenSUSE
  • Oracle Linux
  • Package Managers
  • Pentoo
  • PHP
  • Podman
  • Postfix Mail Server
  • PostgreSQL
  • Python
  • Questions
  • RedHat
  • Redis Server
  • Rocky Linux
  • Security
  • Shell Scripting
  • SQLite
  • SSH
  • Storage
  • Suse
  • Terminals
  • Text Editors
  • Top Tools
  • Torrent Clients
  • Tutorial
  • Ubuntu
  • Udemy Courses
  • Uncategorized
  • VirtualBox
  • Virtualization
  • VMware
  • VPN
  • VSCode Editor
  • Web Browsers
  • Web Design
  • Web Hosting
  • Web Servers
  • Webmin
  • Windows
  • Windows Subsystem
  • WordPress
  • Zabbix
  • Zentyal
  • Zorin OS
Visits
  • 0
  • 259
  • 614,631

DesignLinux.com © All rights reserved

Go to mobile version