# man > DU(1) > **TLDR:** Disk usage: estimate and summarize file and directory space usage. > - List the sizes of a directory and any subdirectories, in the given unit (B/KiB/MiB): `du -{{b|k|m}} {{path/to/directory}}` - List the sizes of a directory and any subdirectories, in human-readable form (i.e. auto-selecting the appropriate unit for each size): `du {{-h|--human-readable}} {{path/to/directory}}` - Show the size of a single directory, in human-readable units: `du {{-sh|--summarize --human-readable}} {{path/to/directory}}` - List the human-readable sizes of a directory and of all the files and directories within it: `du {{-ah|--all --human-readable}} {{path/to/directory}}` - List the human-readable sizes of a directory and any subdirectories, up to `n` levels deep: `du {{-h|--human-readable}} {{-d|--max-depth}} {{n}} {{path/to/directory}}` - List the human-readable size of all `.jpg` files in current directory, and show a cumulative total at the end: `du {{-ch|--total --human-readable}} *.jpg` - List all files and directories (including hidden ones) above a certain threshold size (useful for investigating what is actually taking up the space): `du {{-ah|--all --human-readable}} {{-t|--threshold}} {{1G|1024M|1048576K}} .[^.]* *` *Source: tldr-pages* --- [DU(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/DU/1/markdown) User Commands [DU(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/DU/1/markdown) ## NAME du - estimate file space usage ## SYNOPSIS **du** [_OPTION_]... [_FILE_]... **du** [_OPTION_]... _--files0-from=F_ ## DESCRIPTION Summarize disk usage of the set of FILEs, recursively for directories. Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. ### -0 --null end each output line with NUL, not newline ### -a --all write counts for all files, not just directories ### --apparent-size 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 ### -B --block-size scale sizes by SIZE before printing them; e.g., '-BM' prints sizes in units of 1,048,576 bytes; see SIZE format below ### -b --bytes equivalent to '--apparent-size **--block-size**=_1_' ### -c --total produce a grand total ### -D --dereference-args dereference only symlinks that are listed on the command line ### -d --max-depth print the total for a directory (or file, with **--all**) only if it is N or fewer levels below the command line argument; **--max-depth**=_0_ is the same as **--summarize** **--files0-from**=_F_ summarize disk usage of the NUL-terminated file names specified in file F; if F is -, then read names from standard input ### -H --dereference-args -D ### -h --human-readable print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G) ### --inodes list inode usage information instead of block usage ### -k --block-size ### -L --dereference dereference all symbolic links ### -l --count-links count sizes many times if hard linked ### -m --block-size ### -P --no-dereference don't follow any symbolic links (this is the default) ### -S --separate-dirs for directories do not include size of subdirectories **--si** like **-h**, but use powers of 1000 not 1024 ### -s --summarize display only a total for each argument ### -t --threshold exclude entries smaller than SIZE if positive, or entries greater than SIZE if nega‐ tive **--time** show time of the last modification of any file in the directory, or any of its subdi‐ rectories **--time**=_WORD_ show time as WORD instead of modification time: atime, access, use, ctime or status **--time-style**=_STYLE_ show times using STYLE, which can be: full-iso, long-iso, iso, or +FORMAT; FORMAT is interpreted like in 'date' ### -X --exclude-from exclude files that match any pattern in FILE **--exclude**=_PATTERN_ exclude files that match PATTERN ### -x --one-file-system skip directories on different file systems **--help** display this help and exit ### --version output version information and exit Display values are in units of the first available SIZE from **--block-size**, and the DU_BLOCK_SIZE, BLOCK_SIZE and BLOCKSIZE environment variables. Otherwise, units default to 1024 bytes (or 512 if POSIXLY_CORRECT is set). The SIZE argument is an integer and optional unit (example: 10K is 10*1024). Units are K,M,G,T,P,E,Z,Y (powers of 1024) or KB,MB,... (powers of 1000). Binary prefixes can be used, too: KiB=K, MiB=M, and so on. ## PATTERNS PATTERN is a shell pattern (not a regular expression). The pattern **?** matches any one charac‐ ter, whereas ***** matches any string (composed of zero, one or multiple characters). For exam‐ ple, ***.o** will match any files whose names end in **.o**. Therefore, the command **du** **--exclude='*.o'** will skip all files and subdirectories ending in **.o** (including the file **.o** itself). ## AUTHOR Written by Torbjorn Granlund, David MacKenzie, Paul Eggert, and Jim Meyering. ## REPORTING BUGS GNU coreutils online help: <> Report any translation bugs to <> ## COPYRIGHT Copyright © 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <>. This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. ## SEE ALSO Full documentation <> or available locally via: info '(coreutils) du invocation' GNU coreutils 8.32 January 2026 [DU(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/DU/1/markdown)