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Monitoring Directory Sizes with `du` and `sort` in Linux

1 min read .

When managing file systems in Linux, it’s crucial to monitor directory sizes to ensure you don’t run out of disk space. One way to achieve this is by using the du (disk usage) and sort commands to display and sort directory sizes. How to use du and sort to get directory size information and sort it.

The du Command

The du command is used to calculate and display disk usage for files and directories. Commonly used options with du include:

  • -s: Displays the total size of each argument without showing sizes for subdirectories.
  • -h: Displays sizes in a human-readable format (e.g., KB, MB, GB).

The sort Command

The sort command is used to sort lines of input. Commonly used options with sort include:

  • -n: Sorts numerically.

Example Usage

To get the size of directories under /var/, sort them numerically, and display the results in a human-readable format, you can use the following command:

du -sh /var/* | sort -n

Command Explanation

  1. Displaying Directory Sizes with du:

    du -sh /var/*
    • du -sh calculates the size of each subdirectory under /var/ and displays the results in a human-readable format (e.g., KB, MB, GB).
    • /var/* is a pattern that matches all files and directories directly under /var/.

  2. Sorting Results with sort:

    sort -n
    • sort -n sorts the results numerically, so directories with smaller sizes will be listed first.

Example Output

Here’s an example of the output from the above command:

1.1G    /var/lib
2.2G    /var/log
3.0G    /var/cache
4.5G    /var
  • /var/lib: 1.1 GB
  • /var/log: 2.2 GB
  • /var/cache: 3.0 GB
  • /var: 4.5 GB

In this example, directories are sorted by size from smallest to largest.

Conclusion

By using the du and sort commands, you can easily monitor and manage disk usage on your Linux system. These commands allow you to identify directories that consume a lot of space and take appropriate action, such as cleaning up unnecessary files or expanding storage capacity.

Understanding and effectively using these tools will help you keep your system efficient and avoid unexpected disk space issues.

Tags:
Linux

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