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24.4.5. Using the du Command

The du command allows you to displays the amount of space that is being used by files in a directory. To display the disk usage for each of the subdirectories in the current working directory, run the command with no additional command-line options: 
du
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For example: 
~]$ du
14972   ./Downloads
4       ./.gnome2
4       ./.mozilla/extensions
4       ./.mozilla/plugins
12      ./.mozilla
15004   .
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By default, the du command displays the disk usage in kilobytes. To view the information in megabytes and gigabytes, supply the -h command-line option, which causes the utility to display the values in a human-readable format: 
du -h
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For instance: 
~]$ du -h
15M     ./Downloads
4.0K    ./.gnome2
4.0K    ./.mozilla/extensions
4.0K    ./.mozilla/plugins
12K     ./.mozilla
15M     .
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At the end of the list, the du command always shows the grand total for the current directory. To display only this information, supply the -s command-line option: 
du -sh
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For example: 
~]$ du -sh
15M     .
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For a complete list of available command-line options, see the du(1) manual page.
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