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Find the largest files in a directory

harmlessFilesystemdebian, ubuntu
Adjust the values, the command updates live
user@server
find /var/www/vhosts -type f -size +500M -exec ls -lh {} + 2>/dev/null | sort -k5 -rh | head -20

Lists the 20 largest files above a minimum size. Useful when a disk is filling up and you need to know quickly what is taking up the space. Permission errors are hidden.

Note: On large directory trees this can take several minutes. Prefix it with sudo to include files owned by other users.

Also searched as

  • find all files larger than 500 MB
  • what is using my disk space
  • search for large files linux

Related one-liners

All in Filesystem

Analyze disk usage interactively with ncdu

$ncdu -x /var
harmlessFilesystem

Calculate the total size of all files of one type

$find /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/wp-content/uploads -type f -iname '*.mp4' -printf '%s\n' | awk '{s+=$1; n++} END {printf "%d Dateien, %.1f MB\n", n, s/1048576}'
harmlessFilesystem

Delete empty directories recursively

$find /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs -mindepth 1 -type d -empty -print -delete
destructiveFilesystem

Delete files older than X days

$find /var/backups/example.com -type f -name '*.tar.gz' -mtime +30 -print -delete
destructiveFilesystem

Find duplicate files by checksum

$find /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/wp-content/uploads -type f -size +0 -exec md5sum {} + | sort | uniq -w32 --all-repeated=separate
harmlessFilesystem

Find empty directories

$find /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs -mindepth 1 -type d -empty
harmlessFilesystem

Read first, then run.

The commands on myline.de act directly on servers, files and databases. A wrong path or placeholder can delete data irreversibly or make a server unreachable.

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  • Make a backup first and, if possible, try it on a test system.
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