Linux Survival Basics
Show Big Files in Human Units
You need to find large files and read their sizes without mentally converting bytes.
Command
find /var -type f -printf '%s %p\n' | sort -nr | head -10 | awk '{printf "%.1f MB %s\n", $1/1024/1024, $2}'What changed
Nothing changes. The command converts byte counts into MB for quick triage.
Danger
safe
When to use it
Use this when disk cleanup needs fast human-readable ranking.
When not to use it
Do not delete files from this list without checking ownership and purpose.
Undo or recovery
No state is changed.
Expected output
Large files listed with approximate MB sizes.
demo script
Disposable terminal steps
find /var -type f -printf '%s %p\n' | sort -nr | head -10find /var -type f -printf '%s %p\n' | sort -nr | head -10 | awk '{printf "%.1f MB %s\n", $1/1024/1024, $2}'du -sh /var/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h
simulated output
What it looks like
::fixture-ready::
$ find /var -type f -printf '%s %p\n' | sort -nr | head -10
196608 /var/cache/demo/blob.cache
98304 /var/log/app.log
65536 /var/backups/site.tar
::exit-code::0
$ find /var -type f -printf '%s %p\n' | sort -nr | head -10 | awk '{printf "%.1f MB %s\n", $1/1024/1024, $2}'
0.2 MB /var/cache/demo/blob.cache
0.1 MB /var/log/app.log
0.1 MB /var/backups/site.tar
::exit-code::0
$ du -sh /var/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h
64K /var/backups
96K /var/log
192K /var/cache
::exit-code::0
YouTube Short
Show big files in MB.
Finding large files is useful. Making the sizes readable makes the next decision faster.
LinkedIn hook
Byte counts are precise. Human units are faster under pressure.
Question: Do you prefer raw bytes or human units during disk cleanup?
experiments
A/B tests to run
Metric: youtube_retention_15s
A: Show big files in human units.
B: Byte counts are precise, but MB is faster.