# Finding large and old files with find

> How to use find to list big or old files on Linux, preview them safely and delete only what you checked.

find is the standard Linux command that searches a directory tree for files matching conditions such as size, age, name or type. 'find / -xdev -type f -size +1G' lists files larger than 1 GB on the root file system, which is often the fastest way to see what suddenly filled a disk.

## Useful tests

-size +500M (larger than 500 MiB), -mtime +30 (modified more than 30 days ago), -name '*.log', -type f (files only), -xdev (do not cross into other file systems).

## Showing sizes

Add '-exec ls -lh {} +' to see sizes, or use GNU find's -printf, for example -printf '%s %p\n', and sort the output.

## Deleting safely

-delete removes every match immediately. Run the same command without -delete first, read the list, then add -delete as the last option.

## How to find files over 1 GB

1. Run: sudo find / -xdev -type f -size +1G -exec ls -lh {} +
2. Identify each file's owner program before removing it.
3. For old logs, preview: sudo find /var/log -type f -name '*.gz' -mtime +30
4. Only then delete: sudo find /var/log -type f -name '*.gz' -mtime +30 -delete

## Cautions

- Placing -delete before the tests deletes everything under the path.
- Database, virtual-disk and swap files are large on purpose: do not delete them.

## Sources

- [find(1)](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/find.1.html)
- [du(1)](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/du.1.html)

Last updated: 2026-10-08
URL: https://raincleaner.eu/wiki/linux/find-large-files