If you wish to find files larger than a certain size on a Linux hard disk, this is a very useful tip.
This uses backticks to feed the output of the find command as a parameter to ls. This allows listing the few largest files in a directory.
┌──[jason@192.168.1.3]─[/media/jason/More Media] └──╼ ╼ $ ls -hula `find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -size +500M` -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 6.3G Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_09_16_16_30_19_998.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 1.1G Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_09_16_17_28_57_815.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 751M Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_09_21_13_11_24_868.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 506M Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_09_23_13_01_46_919.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 5.4G Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_09_23_13_03_42_740.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 1.1G Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_09_27_09_49_16_118.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 752M Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_10_02_08_51_02_857.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 843M Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_10_03_11_38_09_535.avi -rwxrwxrwx 1 jason jason 1.1G Aug 28 17:44 ./bloodsucker.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 1.9G Jul 27 16:15 ./OneDrive-2021-07-10.zip -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 513M Oct 3 13:58 ./Unreal_2021_10_02_12_07_05_937.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 4.0G Oct 3 13:58 ./xrEngine_2021_09_26_08_56_01_635.avi |
This version will find all files larger than 5 gigabytes.
┌──[jason@192.168.1.3]─[/media/jason/More Media] └──╼ ╼ $ ls -hula `find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -size +5G` -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 6.3G Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_09_16_16_30_19_998.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 5.4G Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_09_23_13_03_42_740.avi |
To find all files modified less than 8 days ago, use the find command like this.
┌──[jason@192.168.1.3]─[/media/jason/More Media] └──╼ ╼ $ ls -hula `find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -mtime -8` -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 1.1G Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_09_27_09_49_16_118.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 126M Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_09_27_10_27_03_218.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 468M Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_10_02_08_44_33_471.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 752M Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_10_02_08_51_02_857.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 843M Oct 3 13:58 ./Arma3_x64_2021_10_03_11_38_09_535.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 1.8M Oct 3 13:58 ./blackfoot.webm -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 237K Oct 3 13:58 ./immunisation.oxps -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 1.3M Oct 3 13:58 ./ufo2.webm -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 1.1M Oct 3 13:58 ./ufo.webm -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 0 Sep 29 11:21 ./ufo.webp -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 513M Oct 3 13:58 ./Unreal_2021_10_02_12_07_05_937.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 953K Oct 3 13:58 ./V3LLpiLMccW89oPg.mp4 -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 4.0G Oct 3 13:58 ./xrEngine_2021_09_26_08_56_01_635.avi |
The -mtime -8 parameter to find allows searching for files created within a certain timeframe.
This is another way to find the largest files in a directory. This lists the top 20 largest files in a folder.
──[jason@192.168.1.3]─[/media/jason/More Media] └──╼ ╼ $ ls -hula -S | head -n 20 total 26G -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 6.3G Oct 3 13:58 Arma3_x64_2021_09_16_16_30_19_998.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 5.4G Oct 3 13:58 Arma3_x64_2021_09_23_13_03_42_740.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 4.0G Oct 3 13:58 xrEngine_2021_09_26_08_56_01_635.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 1.9G Jul 27 16:15 OneDrive-2021-07-10.zip -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 1.1G Oct 3 13:58 Arma3_x64_2021_09_27_09_49_16_118.avi -rwxrwxrwx 1 jason jason 1.1G Aug 28 17:44 bloodsucker.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 1.1G Oct 3 13:58 Arma3_x64_2021_09_16_17_28_57_815.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 843M Oct 3 13:58 Arma3_x64_2021_10_03_11_38_09_535.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 752M Oct 3 13:58 Arma3_x64_2021_10_02_08_51_02_857.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 751M Oct 3 13:58 Arma3_x64_2021_09_21_13_11_24_868.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 513M Oct 3 13:58 Unreal_2021_10_02_12_07_05_937.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 506M Oct 3 13:58 Arma3_x64_2021_09_23_13_01_46_919.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 468M Oct 3 13:58 Arma3_x64_2021_10_02_08_44_33_471.avi -rwxrwxrwx 1 jason jason 310M Aug 17 2016 Nero-12.0.03400_trial.exe -rwxrwxrwx 1 jason jason 291M Aug 30 05:49 holdup.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 256M Aug 29 14:42 mpv_2021_08_29_14_42_34_275.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 225M Aug 21 17:00 gzdoom_2021_08_12_17_40_59_219.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 210M Aug 28 16:57 mpv_2021_08_27_15_31_02_664.avi -rwxrwxrwx 2 jason jason 126M Oct 3 13:58 Arma3_x64_2021_09_27_10_27_03_218.avi |
Finally, this is how to list files in a folder and not see the . and .. items and the total.
┌──[jason@192.168.1.3]─[/etc/skel] └──╼ ╼ $ ls -hula | sed 1,3d -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 220 Oct 26 2020 .bash_logout -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3.7K Oct 26 2020 .bashrc -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.3K Nov 4 2020 .kshrc -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 807 Oct 26 2020 .profile |
The sed 1,3d command trims off the first 3 lines from the output.