du -sh /path/to/your/directoryOr from inside the directory:
du -sh .-s → summarize (only total)-h → human-readable (KB, MB, GB…)Examples:
du -sh ~/Downloads
du -sh /var/log
du -sh /home/arch/big_project
du -sh .du -sh * | sort -hSorted smallest → largest
Biggest first:
du -sh * | sort -hrdu -h . | sort -hr | head -n 10| Command | What it shows | Best for |
|---|---|---|
du -sh . | Total size of current directory | Quick total |
du -sh * | sort -hr | Sizes of everything directly inside (sorted biggest → smallest) | Finding space hogs |
du -h --max-depth=1 . | sort -hr | Same as above but cleaner (GNU du only) | Modern systems |
du -sh --exclude='*.log' . | Total size, ignoring all .log files | Excluding noisy files |
du -h . | sort -h | tail -n 15 | 15 largest items (smallest → biggest order) | Discovering large items |
ncdu . | Interactive ncurses interface | Exploring interactively |
dust . | Beautiful, colorful, sorted output | Modern / pretty alternative |
ncdu – very popular interactive tool
sudo apt install ncdu # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install ncdu # Fedora
sudo pacman -S ncdu # Archdust – modern readable alternative (GitHub)
# Install via cargo (Rust package manager)
cargo install dustdu -sh and du -sh * | sort -hr — they cover ~95% of everyday use cases.