MathCurvesSurfacesWallpaper GroupsGallerySoftwarePOV-Ray
ProgramingLinuxPerl PythonHTMLCSSJavaScriptPHPJavaEmacsUnicode ♥
Web Hosting by 1&1

Linux: Directory Size: du Command Units

Xah Lee, ,

Linux has a “du” command for showing directory size. It is very useful for managing directories.

How to find the size of a dir?

du -sh ‹dir_name›

How to find the size of all top-level subdirs?

cd to the dir, then du -h -d1 | sort -h for human readable format and sorted. For raw byte count, do du -d1 | sort -n.

Most important options:

Human readable forms. (kilo, mega, giga)

Specify your own units:

〔☛ Computing: mega vs mibi, kilo vs kibi

When using “sort”, use -n to sort by number, use -h to sort human readable form of number (⁖ the output of “du -h”)

Examples of du

Size of one directory. Binary unit. -s for “summery”, -h for human readable.

du -s -h ergoemacs_org/
32M	ergoemacs_org/

Size of one directory. Metric unit. -s for “summery”, --si for metric (SI) unit.

du -s --si ergoemacs_org/
34M	ergoemacs_org/

Size of All Subdirectories: kibi vs kilo

Size of all subdirs, in kibi bytes. du -k emacs | sort -n

du -k emacs | sort -n
40	emacs/qi_logo/old
56	emacs/lisp_logo
76	emacs/text_editor_unicode
100	emacs/ergonomic_emacs_keybinding
106	emacs/unicode-browser
124	emacs/_p
144	emacs/qi_logo
212	emacs/command-frequency
280	emacs/i/unicode
304	emacs/command-frequency_data_files
360	emacs/emacs_logo
388	emacs/i/menu
524	emacs/xx/command-frequency backup 2010-02-01
545	emacs/xx
6331	emacs/i
16087	emacs

show in kilo bytes. du -B 1000 emacs | sort -n

du -B 1000 emacs | sort -n
41      emacs/qi_logo/old
58      emacs/lisp_logo
78      emacs/text_editor_unicode
103     emacs/ergonomic_emacs_keybinding
109     emacs/unicode-browser
127     emacs/_p
148     emacs/qi_logo
218     emacs/command-frequency
287     emacs/i/unicode
312     emacs/command-frequency_data_files
369     emacs/emacs_logo
398     emacs/i/menu
537     emacs/xx/command-frequency backup 2010-02-01
559     emacs/xx
6483    emacs/i
16474   emacs

Attach unit to number, in metric units. du --si emacs | sort -h

du --si emacs | sort -h
41k     emacs/qi_logo/old
58k     emacs/lisp_logo
78k     emacs/text_editor_unicode
103k    emacs/ergonomic_emacs_keybinding
109k    emacs/unicode-browser
127k    emacs/_p
148k    emacs/qi_logo
218k    emacs/command-frequency
287k    emacs/i/unicode
312k    emacs/command-frequency_data_files
369k    emacs/emacs_logo
398k    emacs/i/menu
537k    emacs/xx/command-frequency backup 2010-02-01
559k    emacs/xx
6.5M    emacs/i
17M     emacs
blog comments powered by Disqus