$ du
Estimate file space usage
DOCUMENTEDStorageUbuntu 24.04 LTS baseline
Synopsis
du [OPTION]... [FILE]...What it does
- `du` estimates the space used by files and directories.
- The result can differ from apparent file sizes because filesystem blocks and sparse files affect disk usage.
Examples
Show directory sizes in human-readable form
du -h directory/Show one total for a directory
du -sh directory/Important details
These examples are intentionally conservative. Command behavior can still depend on filesystem state, permissions, locale, shell, installed package version, and other system configuration.
For exact option semantics, the linked authoritative documentation is the source of truth.