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PUBLISHED ON: FEBRUARY 16, 2023

How to check Free Disk Space using df command in Linux

In Linux, we want to report disk space, we use the df command.

The df (disk free) command is used for displays information on the utilization of the file system, partition by partition (disk partition is also called disk slicing for managing each region separately) on which the invoking user has appropriate read access.

  • If no file is given, the df command displays the available space of all mounted file systems. df command does not show unmounted file systems.
  • By default, the df command display available space in 1K blocks, unless the environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT is set, in which case 512-byte blocks are used.

The general syntax of the df command

df [option]... [file]...

Brief description of options available with the 'df' command.

Options Description
-a, --all include pseudo, duplicate, inaccessible file systems
-B, --block-size=SIZE scale sizes by SIZE before printing them
--direct show statistics for a file instead of the mount point
-h, --human-readable print sizes in powers of 1024
-H, --si print sizes in powers of 1000
-i, --inodes list inode information instead of block usage
-k like --block-size=1k
-l, --local limit the listing to local file systems
--total elide all entries insignificant to available space, and produce a grand total
-t, -type=TYPE limit listing to file systems of type TYPE
-x, --exclude-type=TYPE limit listing to file systems, not of type TYPE
-v ignored
--help display help and exit
--version output version information and exit

Example: Use df command in the home directory to know details about root partition.

here in this example, no file is given then by default, df command display available space, used space, and total space of root file system.

Ubuntu terminal running the df command

using df command it gave us an output so we can see that root partition have this much amount of used memory and this much amount of available memory but what are these number. This number doesn't have any units on it and we can't easily understand what amount of disk space being used and what amount of this space is available so to make it human-readable there is an option with df command called -h stands for human-readable now we are using this option following with df command.

Ubuntu terminal running the df command

Now after using the -h option following with df command the output becomes more friendly and readable.

Example: Check the reports of available and used space for any specific folder with option -h.

In this example, there is a directory containing some files. Using df -h studytonight it displays total size in human-readable form is 9.8GB, 4.6GB used space and remaining space is 4.7GB i.e. 50% of total space.

Ubuntu terminal running the df command

Example: Display inode (index node) information.

here in this example using -i (inode) option with df command list index node usage information is display instead of block usage. Index information such as owner, permission, location on the disk.

Ubuntu terminal running the df command

Example: df command with -k (--kilobytes) option

print sizes in 1K blocks instead of 512-byte blocks. This option overrides the environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT.

Ubuntu terminal running the df commandThere are no changes after using -k cause output is already 1K form.

Example: df command with --total option

using --total option with df command it displays elide all entries insignificant to available space and produce a grand total.

Ubuntu terminal running the df command

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we covered how to displays information on the utilization of the system using the df command in the Linux operating system with available options and suitable examples.



About the author:
Pradeep has expertise in Linux, Go, Nginx, Apache, CyberSecurity, AppSec and various other technical areas. He has contributed to numerous publications and websites, providing his readers with insightful and informative content.