Check Disk Usage of Files and Directories

Basic Methods

In Linux, you can use the following commands to check the disk space used by a file or directory:

du command (disk usage):
- Check the space used by a directory:
```
du -sh /path/to/directory
```
  Option explanations:
  - -s: Show only the total
  - -h: Display in human-readable format (e.g., KB, MB, GB)
- Check the space used by a file:
```
du -sh /path/to/file
```
ls command (list directory contents):
- Check the size of a single file:
```
ls -lh /path/to/file
```
  Option explanations:
  - -l: Use long format to list file information
  - -h: Display file size in human-readable format
stat command (display file or file system status):
- View detailed information about a file or directory, including size:
```
stat /path/to/file_or_directory
```

Check the total size of a directory:
```
du -sh /path/to/directory
```
Here, -s means summary and -h means display in human-readable format (e.g., KB, MB).
Check the size of a directory and its subdirectories:
```
du -h /path/to/directory
```
This will list the size of each subdirectory under the specified directory.
Check the total size of a directory and its subdirectories, sorted by size:
```
du -ah /path/to/directory | sort -h
```
Here, -a means show all files and directories, and sort -h means sort in human-readable format.
Show only the top N largest subdirectories and files:
```
du -ah /path/to/directory | sort -rh | head -n N
```
Here, -r means reverse order and head -n N means take the first N lines.