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Insolita
Insolita

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12 4

Linux tools for check disk usage and folders size

1. Native ones

du - Summarize disk usage of the set of FILEs, recursively for directories.

Most popular commands:
du -sh /path - show total summary for a defined path

du -h -d 1 /path - show directory sizes with custom depth (-d option)

du -h -d 1 /path | sort -hr - same as previous, but with sort from largest to lowest

du output

df - report file system disk space usage

Output result looks like:
df output

2. Dust - Rust-written du improve.

Show result as a pretty tree with sort (Ascending by default)

Repository: https://github.com/bootandy/dust

dust

Output can be limited by depth and reversed from largest to lowest

dust -r -d 1

dust -r -d1

Also, it has an interesting feature - showing by file count instead of files size

dust -fr

3. Ncdu - N-curses du version

Site: https://dev.yorhel.nl/ncdu

Install on Ubuntu: apt install ncdu

Install on ArchLinux: sudo pacman -S ncdu

It scans the defined directory, show disk usage, and bring the ability to navigate by child directories

ncdu

4. Dutree - yet another du alternative, written with rust

Repository: https://github.com/nachoparker/dutree

Installation: cargo install dutree

dutree

5. Pydf - df clone written with python

Behavior is similar to native df, but with more pretty colorized output

Repository: https://github.com/garabik/pydf

Install on Ubuntu/Debian: apt install pydf

Install on ArchLinux: sudo pacman -S pydf

pydf

6. Duf - Go-written better df alternative

Repository: https://github.com/muesli/duf

Install on Ubuntu/Debian: apt install duf

Install on ArchLinux: yay -S duf

It is really fast, has a pretty look, and has a killer feature - the ability to output as JSON, that can be useful for monitoring

duf

duf for path

Top comments (2)

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suckup_de profile image
Lars Moelleken

Some years ago, I added this little helper in my .dotfiles :)

# show the biggest files in a folder first
alias du_overview='du -h | grep "^[0-9,]*[MG]" | sort -hr | less'
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github.com/voku/dotfiles/blob/mast...

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tiagohmp profile image
TiagoHMP

Thanks for sharing