How to Check folder size in Linux

To check the size of a folder (directory) in Linux, you can use the du (disk usage) command. Here’s how you can do it:

du -sh <folder_path> 

1. Open a terminal.
2. Run the following command, replacing <folder_path> with the path to the folder you want to check: The -s option tells du to display only the total size of the specified folder, and the -h option provides the output in a human-readable format (e.g., GB, MB, KB).
3. For example, to check the size of the /home/user/Documents folder, you would run: The output will display the total size of the folder.

du -sh /home/user/Documents

If you want to check the size of all subdirectories within the specified folder as well, you can omit the -s option. This will display the size of each subdirectory along with the total size of the main folder.

du -h <folder_path>

The du command is a versatile tool for analyzing disk usage in Linux. It provides various options to customize the output and explore the sizes of individual files and directories within a given folder. For more information on the available options, you can refer to the du command’s manual page by running man du in the terminal.