The index card in the library for "War and Peace" takes a lot less space that the book itself, and so it is when you ask Linux or Unix "how much space is taken in this directory" ... you'll be told how big each of the files are, and how big the index table for each subrirectory is. Here's an example from today's course, one of our training machines:

[trainee@easterton ~]$ ls -l
total 1224
drwxrwxr-x 4 trainee apache 4096 May 18 11:52 build
drwxrwxr-x 2 trainee apache 4096 Jun 4 11:56 dbn
drwxr-xr-x 2 trainee apache 4096 Jun 12 14:21 Desktop
-rwxr-xr-x 1 trainee apache 55 May 26 11:20 ls
drwxr-xr-x 3 trainee apache 4096 May 26 12:09 ppl
drwxr-x--- 2 trainee apache 4096 Jun 12 14:22 richard
-rw-r----- 1 trainee apache 81920 Jun 12 14:22 richard.tar
drwxr-x--- 3 trainee apache 4096 Jun 4 16:29 tombuild
-rw-r--r-- 1 trainee apache 22186 May 21 19:55 transwilts2009.odt
-rw-r--r-- 1 trainee apache 785849 May 21 19:55 transwilts_2009.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 trainee apache 313556 May 21 19:57 transwilts2009.pdf
drwxrwxr-x 4 trainee apache 4096 May 18 11:22 website

So that's telling me that the total size is 1224 Kbytes (just over 1 Mbyte) with most of the space in the file transwilts_2009.pdf. And there are 7 directories that are 4096 bytes each ... Yes, but that's the directory entry size. Let's dig deeper:

[trainee@easterton ~]$ du -sk *
211020 build
243080 dbn
12 Desktop
4 ls
60348 ppl
152 richard
84 richard.tar
60352 tombuild
24 transwilts2009.odt
772 transwilts_2009.pdf
312 transwilts2009.pdf
461424 website


Once again, you see that the transwilts_2009.pdf file is 772k ... but the grand total has rocketed from just over 1 Mbyte to 461 Mbytes ... because we're now looking within each directory. They're not 4096 bytes each - that's just the index card. The website directory (as an example) is 461 Mbytes alone.

Courses - Linux Admin Introduction and LAMP deployment for folks who have to look after we servers.
(written 2009-07-20, updated 2009-07-22)

 A101 - Web Application Deployment - Linux -An Introduction For Users
  [3256] Displaying a directory or file system tree - Linux - (2011-04-22)
  [3179] Oops - I typed ci not vi, and have lost my file ... - (2011-02-21)
  [2831] Recording (a macro) in vi - (2010-06-27)
  [2636] Linux - useful tips including history and file name completion - (2010-02-15)
  [2494] Making Linux Politically correct - (2009-11-06)
  [2479] Accidentally typed ci rather than vi? - (2009-10-27)
  [2300] What does x on a linux directory mean? - (2009-07-21)
  [2203] Always use su with minus. And where do programs come from? - (2009-05-27)
  [2201] Running straight from the jar, but not from a tar - (2009-05-26)
  [1904] Ruby, Perl, Linux, MySQL - some training notes - (2008-11-23)
  [1902] sstrwxrwxrwx - Unix and Linux file permissions - (2008-11-23)
  [1897] Keeping on an even keel - (2008-11-21)
  [1893] Some Linux and Unix tips - (2008-11-18)
  [1803] FTP passive mode - a sometimes cure for upload hangs - (2008-09-20)
  [1764] Yank and Push - copy and move in vi - (2008-08-21)
  [1651] ls command - favourite options - (2008-05-23)
  [1527] Selecting file names in a shell - one word or another - (2008-02-02)
  [1438] Copy and paste / cut and paste and other vi techniques - (2007-11-20)
  [1408] Wireless hotel tips - FTP and Skype connections failing - (2007-10-26)
  [1366] awk - a powerful data extraction and manipulation tool - (2007-09-25)
  [1288] Linux run states, shell special commands, and directory structures - (2007-08-03)
  [1287] Work and play at Well House Manor - Football and Shell Shortcuts - (2007-08-02)
  [1259] Where am I and how did I get here? - (2007-07-05)
  [1068] ls -l report, Linux / Unix - types and permssions - (2007-02-06)
  [1013] Copy multiple files - confusing error message from cp - (2006-12-30)
  [1012] Moving files between Windows / DOS and Linux / Unix - (2006-12-30)
  [984] Cardinal numbers and magic numbers - (2006-12-14)
  [749] Cottage industry or production line data handling methods - (2006-06-07)
  [711] THE home directory or MY home directory - (2006-05-06)
  [710] Linux training Glasgow, Python programming course Dundee - (2006-05-05)
  [703] Copying files and preserving ownership - (2006-04-28)
  [679] More or less on the edge of the page - (2006-04-11)
  [659] Web Application Components - (2006-03-28)
  [593] Finding where the disc space has gone - (2006-02-06)
  [431] File permissions of Linux and Unix systems - (2005-08-31)
  [430] Linux commands - some basics - (2005-08-31)
  [249] An easy way out - (2005-03-17)
  [152] Aladdin, or careful what you wish. - (2004-12-15)
  [74] pushd and popd - (2004-10-05)
  [73] vi - full circle - (2004-10-04)

A162 - Web Application Deployment - Backups and File System Management
  [1801] Will your backups work if you have to restore them? - (2008-09-18)
  [1765] Dialects of English and Unix - (2008-08-21)
  [1648] The tourists guide to Linux - (2008-05-20)
  [1439] Linux / Unix - layout of operating system files - (2007-11-20)
  [1023] Finding public writeable things on your linux file system - (2007-01-06)
  [754] tar, jar, war, ear, sar files - (2006-06-10)
  [735] Boys will be boys, saved by Ubuntu - (2006-05-27)
  [554] What backup is adequate? - (2006-01-04)
  [334] Symbolic links and hard links - (2005-06-02)
  [153] Linux - where to put swap space - (2004-12-16)

Back to Melksham Carnival Parade - the people

Previous and next or Horse's mouth home

Forward to What does x on a linux directory mean?

Turning potential customers away
See us at the West Wilts Show
Mistaken identity?
How much space does my directory take - Linux
Melksham Carnival Parade - the people
Standing on the corner, Melksham Carnival
Variable scope - what is it, and how does it Ruby?
The dog is not in trouble
Can you learn to program in 4 days?