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TLDR: du (tldr-pages)

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}} .[^.]* *
DU(1)                                       User Commands                                      DU(1)



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=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=N
              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     equivalent to --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     like --block-size=1K

       -L, --dereference
              dereference all symbolic links

       -l, --count-links
              count sizes many times if hard linked

       -m     like --block-size=1M

       -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=SIZE
              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=FILE
              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: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright  ©  2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
       <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       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 <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/du>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) du invocation'



GNU coreutils 8.32                          January 2026                                       DU(1)
du(1)
NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION
-0, --null -a, --all --apparent-size -B, --block-size=SIZE -b, --bytes -c, --total -D, --dereference-args -d, --max-depth=N -H equivalent to --dereference-args (-D) -h, --human-readable --inodes -k like --block-size=1K -L, --dereference -l, --count-links -m like --block-size=1M -P, --no-dereference -S, --separate-dirs -s, --summarize -t, --threshold=SIZE -X, --exclude-from=FILE -x, --one-file-system --version
PATTERNS AUTHOR REPORTING BUGS COPYRIGHT SEE ALSO

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