Linux Fix Storage Issues By Finding Large Files and Directories

#linux #hardware #bash

Ask Ubuntu | Dan King

du -aBM 2>/dev/null | sort -nr | head -n 50 | more

du arguments:

-a for "all" files and directories. Leave it off for just directories
-BM to output the sizes in megabyte (M) block sizes (B)
2>/dev/null - exclude "permission denied" error messages (thanks @Oli)

sort arguments:

-n for "numeric"
-r for "reverse" (biggest to smallest)

head arguments:

-n 50 for the just top 50 results.
Leave off more if using a smaller number

Note: Prefix with sudo to include directories that your account does not have permission to access.

Example showing top 10 biggest files and directories in /var (including grand total).

cd /var
sudo du -aBM 2>/dev/null | sort -nr | head -n 10
7555M   .
6794M   ./lib
5902M   ./lib/mysql
3987M   ./lib/mysql/my_database_dir
1825M   ./lib/mysql/my_database_dir/a_big_table.ibd
997M    ./lib/mysql/my_database_dir/another_big_table.ibd
657M    ./log
629M    ./log/apache2
587M    ./log/apache2/ssl_access.log
273M    ./cache

Benjamin Rancourt

sudo du --all / | sort --numeric-sort --reverse | head --lines 15

Shorthand

sudo du -a / | sort -n -r | head -n 15

specify a directory

sudo du -a /var/log | sort -n -r | head -n 15