Linux large file search
In this post, we will see how to list largest files or directories in linux.
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 </b>/var</b> (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
####Original Posting [AskUbuntu] https://askubuntu.com/questions/36111/whats-a-command-line-way-to-find-large-files-directories-to-remove-and-free-up