How to list recursive file sizes of files and directories in a directory?

Question

How do I list all the files in a directory and their recursive file sizes?

---edit

I want to see the sizes 'rolled up' to the parent directories in the directory listed. I don't want to see the child directories or their contents or sizes.

You mean that you want to see the total size (sum) of all the files in a folder, like right-clicking on a folder on your desktop and selecting 'properties' ? — Pavlos G., Aug 18 '11 at 12:09
Are you looking for software which helps you to find big files, or something to get a (collapsable) file tree? — Lekensteyn, Aug 18 '11 at 12:09
Hi @Pavlos G - I mean the sum for each of the directories in the directory I'm currently in - not the sum for the overall directory. — hawkeye, Aug 18 '11 at 12:14

score 90 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 19 '11 at 04:59

90

apt-get install ncdu

enter image description here

It is interactive too so if you want to check on a sub folder just UP, DOWN, and Enter to it.

answered Aug 19 '11 at 04:59

ihashacks

4,086

Just what I was looking for. Thank you very much! – Mathlight Sep 06 '16 at 19:21
Maybe the most amazing software recommendation I have ever got – SomethingSomething Sep 14 '17 at 10:35
this should be the approved answer – dvdmn Apr 29 '19 at 14:38
ncdu is really so underrated – Jacquot Jan 30 '20 at 10:31

Pavlos G. · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-18T12:20:10.923

I guess the easiest way is by typing ls -l, or ls -lh which will provide the file size in human-readable format (KB, MB, etc).

If 'recursively' means listing all the subsequent folders, e.g.:

/foo/
/foo/bar/ ....

Then you should also add parameter R, like ls -lR or ls -lhR

More information for ls can be found by typing man ls

Update:

The following command as Lekensteyn proposed will probably do the job:

du -h --max-depth=1 <folder>

-h is for human-readable
--apparent-size is another way to display sizes as already stated
--max-depth is the level of subfolders you want to go down to.

What to use for max depth? -1? – dylanh724 Dec 16 '17 at 06:30 — dylanh724, Dec 16 '17 at 06:30

score 37 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 09 '16 at 18:35

37

To get the total size of a directory and all children

du -hs directory/*

edited Mar 09 '16 at 18:35

muru

197,895
55
485
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answered Aug 18 '11 at 12:16

Richard Holloway

30,568

I'd like the next level down from that - the recursive sizes of all the first level children. – hawkeye Aug 18 '11 at 12:19
1

I'll edit my answer. You need to use du -h directory/* – Richard Holloway Aug 18 '11 at 12:26

score 17 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 18 '11 at 12:13

17

Also check out tree. It is not installed by default but is the repositories.

Example:

richard@legend:~$ tree Applications/ -s
Applications/
├── [           4096]  AlexFTPS-1.0.2
│   ├── [      31232]  AlexPilotti.FTPS.Client.dll
│   ├── [     274432]  C5.dll
│   ├── [       1457]  C5-License
│   ├── [      35147]  COPYING
│   ├── [       7639]  COPYING.LESSER
│   ├── [         70]  ftps
│   ├── [      28672]  ftps.exe
│   ├── [      98304]  Plossum CommandLine.dll
│   ├── [       1557]  Plossum-License
│   └── [       2560]  README
└── [           4096]  src
    └── [     180849]  AlexFTPS_bin_1.0.2.zip

More options can be found in the man page.

answered Aug 18 '11 at 12:13

Richard Holloway

30,568

Should sizes be shown? – hawkeye Aug 18 '11 at 12:15
J G: The -s shows the sizes. – Richard Holloway Aug 18 '11 at 12:17
3

Shows the size of the directory record rather than full directory size. – Steven Lu Aug 03 '13 at 22:40
-h show size in human readable way, e.g tree -s – Eric Jul 22 '19 at 07:09

score 17 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 19 '11 at 00:31

Since you don't specifically mention you need a terminal-based solution, I think baobab a.k.a. Disk Usage Analyzer is missing from the list.

It is installed in Ubuntu by default and does exactly what you want in a nice graphical UI with the ability to drill down the directory hierarchy.

Apart from displaying a list of directories with their sizes, it is also showing a rings or treemap chart of filesystem usage, which is extremely useful for visualising the directories which take up the most space.

baobab the Disk Usage Analyzer

score 11 · Answer 6 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

11

A terminal solution is the du command:

du --all --human-readable --apparent-size

(shorthand: du -ah --apparent-size)

du displays the disk usage for each file and directory. The options explained:

--all, -a - show sizes for files as well, not just directories
--human-readable, -h - show sizes in a human readable format, e.g. 10K (10 kilobytes), 10 (10 bytes)
--apparent-size - show the actual file size, not the sizes as used by the disk.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

Community

1

answered Aug 18 '11 at 12:02

Lekensteyn

174,277

I just wanted the first-level children – hawkeye Aug 18 '11 at 12:23
2

@hawkeye for 1st level you can use --max-depth=1 – nikoskip Feb 09 '15 at 15:36
5

@nikoskip nice tip! Also nice to know is the shorthand, --max-depth=1 can be shortened to -d1. – Lekensteyn Feb 10 '15 at 17:49
how to get all of these in a decending order of size.. – kRazzy R Nov 15 '17 at 19:33
how do I view the contents and empty : /dev/sda5 ext4 430G 381G 27G 94% / my laptop is less than 1 month old and it is so full which it makes no sense – kRazzy R Nov 15 '17 at 20:32

Whimsical · Answer 7 · 2016-04-20T17:00:04.887

3

This seems to do the trick when simlinks are involved.

ls -LRlh

edited Apr 20 '16 at 17:00

answered Apr 20 '16 at 10:58

Whimsical

131

given answer didnt give me details for simlinks(ls -lhR), the numbers listed next to it didnt correspond to the right size of each of the values either. My answer gave me a hierarchy with a defined tree structure and the correct answer....OR are you referring to some other upvoted answer? – Whimsical Apr 20 '16 at 16:56
Down-vote retracted, upvoted. Please [edit] and put the comment in the answer... Thanks for the explanation. ;-) – Fabby Apr 20 '16 at 20:47

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 19 '15 at 21:22

1

To get a sorted list put everything in MB and sort :

du -m * | sort -n

Or use tool such as DiskReport to generate a report of full disk tree.

answered Aug 19 '15 at 21:22

Erwan

11

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Jul 31 '20 at 00:04

I like the following approach:

du -schx .[!.]* * | sort -h

where:

s: display only a total for each argument
c: produce a grand total
h: print sizes in a human-readable format
x: skip directories on different file systems
.[!.]* *: Summarize disk usage of each file, recursively for directories (including "hidden" ones)
| sort -h: Sort based on human-readable numbers (e.g., 2K 1G)

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Aug 20 '15 at 06:46

0

Another terminal solution with find and sort (by filesize, column 1)

$ find . -maxdepth 1 ! -path . -printf "%s %p\n" | sort -n -k1                              
178 ./somefile.txt
219 ./somefile2.txt
4096 ./c
4096 ./cs2
4096 ./perl
4096 ./python
4096 ./random
4096 ./sh

edited Aug 20 '15 at 06:46

A.B.

90,397

answered Aug 19 '15 at 22:26

Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy

105,154
20
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This doesn't show the size of the directory. – muru Aug 20 '15 at 06:59
4K is not the sizes of the directories – qwr Jan 07 '20 at 20:22

score -1 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 07 '20 at 20:24

-1

For listing size of folder contents with less typing (-d is short for --max-depth)

du -hd1

answered Jan 07 '20 at 20:24

qwr

2,802

How to list recursive file sizes of files and directories in a directory?

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