Hidden files are often used to store user preferences or maintain the state of an application and are often created indirectly using various utilities. They are not a security mechanism as there are no access and authorization restrictions.
They exist in every operating system. In Linux operating systems (Debian, Ubuntu, Centos etc) hidden files are mostly created by the operating system. The names of hidden files start with point (".")
To list only hidden files in your current directory, the ls command should be used as follows:
foc@fedora:~$ ls -ld .?*
drwxr-xr-x. 8 root root 4096 Feb 23 13:35 ..
-rw-------. 1 foc foc 41737 Aug 18 22:05 .bash_history
-rw-r--r--. 1 foc foc 220 Feb 12 2021 .bash_logout
-rw-r--r--. 1 foc foc 4144 Jul 31 20:53 .bashrc
drwxr-xr-x. 30 foc foc 4096 Jul 29 01:30 .cache
drwxr-xr-x. 3 foc foc 4096 Jul 31 20:53 .cargo
drwxr-xr-x. 2 foc foc 4096 Jun 2 2021 .conda
drwxr-xr-x. 28 foc foc 4096 Aug 16 17:47 .config
Parameters used in the ls command:
- -l : use a long listing format
- -d, --directory: list directory entries instead of contents, and do not dereference symbolic links
- .?* : will only state hidden files
Let's show two methods to check the size of the hidden file.
Method-1: Using "ls" Command
Adding the "h" parameter to the ls command will list the size information for each file/directory in a more readable way:
foc@fedora:~$ ls -lhd .?* drwxr-xr-x. 8 root root 4.0K Feb 23 13:35 .. -rw-------. 1 foc foc 41K Aug 18 22:05 .bash_history -rw-r--r--. 1 foc foc 220 Feb 12 2021 .bash_logout -rw-r--r--. 1 foc foc 4.1K Jul 31 20:53 .bashrc drwxr-xr-x. 30 foc foc 4.0K Jul 29 01:30 .cache drwxr-xr-x. 3 foc foc 4.0K Jul 31 20:53 .cargo drwxr-xr-x. 2 foc foc 4.0K Jun 2 2021 .conda drwxr-xr-x. 28 foc foc 4.0K Aug 16 17:47 .config
Here,
- -h, --human-readable with -l and -s, print sizes like 1K 234M 2G etc.
If you run the ls command as follows, it will display the size of the files and subdirectories under the directories, along with the size of that file if it is just a file:
foc@fedora:~$ ls -lSh .?* .cache: total 112K drwxr-xr-x. 2 foc foc 4.0K Apr 14 22:40 abrt drwxr-xr-x. 2 foc foc 4.0K Aug 18 22:05 appstream drwx------. 3 foc foc 4.0K Apr 21 01:14 BraveSoftware drwx------. 3 foc foc 4.0K Jul 17 01:01 chromium drwx------. 8 foc foc 4.0K Apr 14 22:40 evolution drwxr-xr-x. 3 foc foc 4.0K Apr 14 22:40 flatpak drwxr-xr-x. 2 foc foc 4.0K Jul 26 19:50 fontconfig drwxr-xr-x. 3 foc foc 4.0K Jul 29 01:30 git drwxr-xr-x. 2 foc foc 4.0K Apr 21 01:27 gnome-boxes drwxr-xr-x. 2 foc foc 4.0K Jul 28 21:19 gnome-calculator drwx------. 3 foc foc 4.0K Apr 14 22:40 gnome-desktop-thumbnailer drwx------. 2 foc foc 4.0K Jul 20 02:00 gnome-screenshot drwxr-xr-x. 10 foc foc 4.0K Apr 21 01:09 gnome-software drwxr-xr-x. 2 foc foc 4.0K Jul 18 09:07 gstreamer-1.0 drwx------. 2 foc foc 4.0K Apr 14 22:40 ibus drwxr-xr-x. 3 foc foc 4.0K Apr 21 01:27 libvirt drwxr-xr-x. 193 foc foc 4.0K Jul 31 21:19 mesa_shader_cache drwx------. 3 foc foc 4.0K Apr 20 23:27 mozilla drwx------. 2 foc foc 4.0K May 17 11:16 obexd drwx------. 3 foc foc 4.0K Jun 7 13:02 rhythmbox drwx------. 2 foc foc 4.0K Apr 14 22:43 samba drwx------. 5 foc foc 4.0K May 23 10:38 thumbnails drwxr-x--x. 3 foc foc 4.0K Aug 15 10:22 virt-manager .dbus: total 4.0K drwx------. 2 foc foc 4.0K Feb 12 2021 session-bus
Method-1: Using "du" Command
The du command shows the sizes of hidden files in the directory you are using below:
foc@fedora:~$ du -hs .[^.]* 44K .bash_history 4.0K .bash_logout 8.0K .bashrc 1.4G .cache 16M .cargo 8.0K .conda 642M .config
The du command parameters:
- -h, --human-readable: print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G)
- -s, --summarize: display only a total for each argument
To check the size of a specific file or directory:
foc@fedora:~$ du -hs .gconf/ 4.0K .gconf/
Summary
In this article, we tried to show you how to find hidden files and check their size. You can get help from du command manual page to show file/directory sizes with different properties:
foc@fedora:~$ man du
-B, --block-size=SIZE
scale sizes by SIZE before printing them; e.g., '-BM' prints sizes in units of 1,048,576 bytes; see
SIZE format below
-b, --bytes
equivalent to '--apparent-size --block-size=1'
-c, --total
produce a grand total
-h, --human-readable
print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G)
-k like --block-size=1K
-l, --count-links
count sizes many times if hard linked
-m like --block-size=1M
-S, --separate-dirs
for directories do not include size of subdirectories
--si like -h, but use powers of 1000 not 1024
-s, --summarize
display only a total for each argument
-h, --human-readable
print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G)
References
Stackoverflow - How to get size of hidden files with "du"
