Ncdu (NCurses Disk Usage) is a powerful command-line utility for analyzing disk space usage on Unix-like operating systems. It provides an interactive interface to navigate through directories and files, showing their sizes and helping you identify what's consuming your disk space.

Understanding Ncdu Commands

Ncdu offers several options for saving and loading scan results, which can be particularly useful for analyzing large file systems or for later review. Here are some common command-line usages:

Saving Scan Results

To save the current disk usage scan to a file, you can use the -o option followed by the desired filename. This creates a snapshot of your disk usage at that moment.

# To save results to <file>:
ncdu -o <file>

Reading Scan Results

You can load a previously saved scan result using the -f option, followed by the path to the saved file. This allows you to review disk usage without rescanning.

# To read from <file>:
ncdu -f <file>

Saving to Compressed Files

For large scan results, it's often beneficial to compress the output. You can pipe the output of ncdu -o- to a compression utility like gzip.

# To save results to a compressed file:
ncdu -o- | gzip > <file.gz>

Reading from Compressed Files

Similarly, you can decompress a saved file using zcat and pipe it to ncdu -f- to read the results.

# To read from a compressed file:
zcat <file.gz> | ncdu -f-

Key Features of Ncdu

Ncdu's interactive interface allows for easy navigation and sorting of directories by size. It's an essential tool for system administrators and developers who need to manage disk space efficiently. Its ability to export and import scan data makes it versatile for various workflows.

External Resources

• Official Ncdu Website
• Ncdu Man Page
• Ncdu on Stack Overflow