How to check the size of various directories in Linux

This article is going to take you through on how to check the size of various directories in Linux. We are going to use three main used commands to check size of various directories in Linux which include.

• How to check the size of various directories in Linux using du command
• How to check the size of various directories in Linux using ncdu command
• How to check the size of various directories in Linux using tree command

How to check the size of various directories in Linux using du command

The du command stands for disk usage, it comes installed with most Linux distributions by default.

• To display the size of the current directory run the command below.

du

Sample output

76    ./.cache/thumbnails/normal
20    ./.cache/thumbnails/fail/gnome-thumbnail-factory
24    ./.cache/thumbnails/fail
292    ./.cache/thumbnails/large
396    ./.cache/thumbnails
4    ./.cache/ibus-table
4    ./.cache/gnome-desktop-thumbnailer/gstreamer-1.0
8    ./.cache/gnome-desktop-thumbnailer
24    ./.cache/update-manager-core
8    ./.cache/ubuntu-report
380    ./.cache/gstreamer-1.0
4    ./.cache/tracker3/files/errors
12332    ./.cache/tracker3/files
12336    ./.cache/tracker3
16    ./.cache/gnome-calculator
4    ./.cache/thunderbird/z4kv9qzx.default
16    ./.cache/thunderbird/o2au4xnw.default-release/cache2/entries
4    ./.cache/thunderbird/o2au4xnw.default-release/cache2/doomed
24    ./.cache/thunderbird/o2au4xnw.default-release/cache2
5216    ./.cache/thunderbird/o2au4xnw.default-release/startupCache
5244    ./.cache/thunderbird/o2au4xnw.default-release
5252    ./.cache/thunderbird
176    ./.cache/ibus/bus
180    ./.cache/ibus
64    ./.cache/fontconfig
4    ./.cache/evolution/memos/trash
8    ./.cache/evolution/memos
4    ./.cache/evolution/sources/trash
8    ./.cache/evolution/sources
4    ./.cache/evolution/mail/trash
8    ./.cache/evolution/mail
4    ./.cache/evolution/calendar/trash
8    ./.cache/evolution/calendar
4    ./.cache/evolution/addressbook/trash
8    ./.cache/evolution/addressbook
4    ./.cache/evolution/tasks/trash
8    ./.cache/evolution/tasks
52    ./.cache/evolution

• To output the size in human readable format i.e. K for kilobyte, M for megabyte, G for gigabyte etc. add -h to the command as shown below.

du -h

Sample output

6K    ./.cache/thumbnails/normal
20K    ./.cache/thumbnails/fail/gnome-thumbnail-factory
24K    ./.cache/thumbnails/fail
292K    ./.cache/thumbnails/large
396K    ./.cache/thumbnails
4.0K    ./.cache/ibus-table
4.0K    ./.cache/gnome-desktop-thumbnailer/gstreamer-1.0
8.0K    ./.cache/gnome-desktop-thumbnailer
24K    ./.cache/update-manager-core
8.0K    ./.cache/ubuntu-report
380K    ./.cache/gstreamer-1.0
4.0K    ./.cache/tracker3/files/errors
13M    ./.cache/tracker3/files
13M    ./.cache/tracker3
16K    ./.cache/gnome-calculator
4.0K    ./.cache/thunderbird/z4kv9qzx.default
16K    ./.cache/thunderbird/o2au4xnw.default-release/cache2/entries
4.0K    ./.cache/thunderbird/o2au4xnw.default-release/cache2/doomed
24K    ./.cache/thunderbird/o2au4xnw.default-release/cache2
5.1M    ./.cache/thunderbird/o2au4xnw.default-release/startupCache
5.2M    ./.cache/thunderbird/o2au4xnw.default-release
5.2M    ./.cache/thunderbird
176K    ./.cache/ibus/bus
180K    ./.cache/ibus
64K    ./.cache/fontconfig
4.0K    ./.cache/evolution/memos/trash
8.0K    ./.cache/evolution/memos

• You can determine the size of a file in a specified directory using the du -h command followed by directory path

sudo du -h /etc

Sample output

4.0K    /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/90-mandatory.d
4.0K    /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/10-vendor.d
4.0K    /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/30-site.d
4.0K    /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d
4.0K    /etc/polkit-1/localauthority/20-org.d
24K    /etc/polkit-1/localauthority
12K    /etc/polkit-1/localauthority.conf.d
40K    /etc/polkit-1
8.0K    /etc/apm/scripts.d
4.0K    /etc/apm/resume.d
4.0K    /etc/apm/suspend.d
20K    /etc/apm
44K    /etc/wpa_supplicant
4.0K    /etc/rcS.d
4.0K    /etc/rc1.d
12K    /etc/pm/sleep.d
16K    /etc/pm
16K    /etc/bluetooth
80K    /etc/logrotate.d
8.0K    /etc/depmod.d
4.0K    /etc/postgresql-common/pg_upgradecluster.d
24K    /etc/postgresql-common
8.0K    /etc/pcmcia
40K    /etc/sysctl.d

• Check disk consumption of a specific directory using the command below.

sudo du -hc /etc

Sample output

76K    /etc/brltty/Input/al
132K    /etc/brltty/Input/bm
8.0K    /etc/brltty/Input/np
8.0K    /etc/brltty/Input/vs
8.0K    /etc/brltty/Input/vr
8.0K    /etc/brltty/Input/ba
64K    /etc/brltty/Input/eu
40K    /etc/brltty/Input/fs
8.0K    /etc/brltty/Input/tn
8.0K    /etc/brltty/Input/lt
12K    /etc/brltty/Input/ec
60K    /etc/brltty/Input/ts
1.2M    /etc/brltty/Input
924K    /etc/brltty/Text
1.4M    /etc/brltty/Contraction
16K    /etc/brltty/Attributes
40K    /etc/brltty/Keyboard
3.6M    /etc/brltty
4.0K    /etc/postgresql/13/main/conf.d
60K    /etc/postgresql/13/main
64K    /etc/postgresql/13
68K    /etc/postgresql
28K    /etc/gnome
76K    /etc/speech-dispatcher/modules
8.0K    /etc/speech-dispatcher/clients
104K    /etc/speech-dispatcher
16M    /etc
16M    total

• To view total size of directory e.g. var run the following command.

sudo du -hs /var

How to check the size of various directories in Linux using ncdu command

The ncdu command stands for NCurses Disk Usage. Unlike du command, ncdu command doesn’t come installed by on most Linux distro by default.

• Run the command below to install on Debian / Ubuntu.

sudo apt install ncdu

• For CentOS / RedHat run the following command.

sudo yum install ncdu

• To view the size of current directory simply type the command below.

ncdu

• To view size of specific directory type the command ncdu followed by directory path.

ncdu /etc

How to check the size of various directories in Linux using tree command

• Start by installing tree command. Use the command below for Debian / Ubuntu

sudo apt-get install tree

• Use the following command for CentOS / RedHat

sudo yum install tree

• To check the size of the current directory run the command below.

tree -d -h

Sample output

 .
├── [4.0K]  demo
├── [4.0K]  Desktop
├── [4.0K]  Documents
├── [4.0K]  Downloads
│   └── [4.0K]  firefox.tmp
│       └── [4.0K]  Temp-b2d5ec19-10b7-4fe1-a2e3-1ce76fc59968
├── [4.0K]  Music
├── [4.0K]  Pictures
│   └── [4.0K]  demodata
├── [4.0K]  Public
├── [4.0K]  snap
│   ├── [4.0K]  firefox
│   │   ├── [4.0K]  1154
│   │   ├── [4.0K]  1188
│   │   ├── [4.0K]  common
│   │   └── [   4]  current -> 1188
│   └── [4.0K]  snap-store
│       ├── [4.0K]  558
│       ├── [4.0K]  common
│       └── [   3]  current -> 558
├── [4.0K]  Templates
└── [4.0K]  Videos

• To check the file of specific directory run the following command.

tree -d -h /etc

• This marks the end of our article, congratulations. You have learned how to check the size of various directories in Linux.

Read more on some of the commands here

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