du Command Guide

Basic Usage

du shows disk usage of files and directories.

bash

# Current directory
du

# Specific directory
du /path/to/directory

# Specific file
du file.txt

Common Options

du Options

-h	Human-readable sizes (K, M, G)
-s	Summary only (total size)
-a	Include files, not just directories
-c	Show grand total
-d N	Limit depth to N levels
--max-depth=N	Same as -d N
-x	Stay on one filesystem
--exclude	Exclude matching files

Human-Readable Output

bash

# Human-readable sizes
du -h

# Summary with human-readable
du -sh directory/

# All files and directories
du -ah

Summary and Totals

bash

# Total size of directory
du -sh /home/user

# Total of multiple directories
du -sh dir1 dir2 dir3

# With grand total
du -ch dir1 dir2 dir3

Limiting Depth

bash

# One level deep
du -h -d 1

# Two levels deep
du -h --max-depth=2

# Just immediate subdirectories
du -sh */

Practical Examples

Find largest directories

bash

du -h -d 1 | sort -hr | head -10

Find largest files

bash

du -ah | sort -hr | head -20

Check home directory usage

bash

du -sh ~/*

Find space hogs in root

bash

sudo du -h -d 1 / 2>/dev/null | sort -hr | head -10

Exclude certain directories

bash

du -h --exclude="node_modules" --exclude=".git" -d 1

Compare directory sizes

bash

du -sh project_v1 project_v2

Find directories over 1GB

bash

du -h -d 2 | grep -E '^[0-9.]+G'

Tip

Use -x to stay on one filesystem and avoid crossing mount points when checking root directories.

du vs df

du and df serve different purposes:

Comparison

du	Disk Usage - size of files/directories
df	Disk Free - filesystem space availability

bash

# How much space does /home use?
du -sh /home

# How much space is free on the filesystem?
df -h /home

Interactive Tools

For interactive exploration, consider these tools:

bash

# ncdu - NCurses Disk Usage
sudo apt install ncdu
ncdu /

# dust - Modern du alternative (Rust)
dust

# duf - Modern df alternative
duf

Info

ncdu provides an interactive interface that makes it easy to navigate and find large directories.

Apparent Size vs Disk Usage

bash

# Disk usage (actual blocks used)
du -sh file.txt

# Apparent size (logical size)
du -sh --apparent-size file.txt

Sparse files and filesystem block sizes can cause these to differ.

Summary

du is essential for managing disk space. Key takeaways:

Use du -sh for directory summary
Use du -h -d 1 for one level deep
Use du | sort -hr to find largest items
Use --exclude to skip directories
Consider ncdu for interactive exploration

Quick Reference

Basic

Options

Common

Downloadable Image Preview

Basic Usage

Common Options

du Options

Human-Readable Output

Summary and Totals

Limiting Depth

Practical Examples

Find largest directories

Find largest files

Check home directory usage

Find space hogs in root

Exclude certain directories

Compare directory sizes

Find directories over 1GB

du vs df

Comparison

Interactive Tools

Apparent Size vs Disk Usage

Summary

Related Articles

df Command Guide

ls Command Guide

find Command Guide