# Terminal Tips: Summarizing Folder Disk Usage on Linux & Mac

The command `du -sh *` is used in Unix-like operating systems (such as Linux and macOS) to display the disk usage of files and directories in the current directory.

Here's a breakdown of what each part of the command does:

* `du`: Stands for "disk usage". This command estimates and displays the amount of disk space used by files and directories.
    
* `-s`: Stands for "summarize". This option `du` displays only the total size of each argument (file or directory) instead of the size of each file within directories.
    
* `-h`: Stands for "human-readable". This option makes the output more readable by converting the sizes into a human-readable format, using units like kilobytes (K), megabytes (M), gigabytes (G), etc.
    
* `*`: This is a wildcard that matches all files and directories in the current directory.
    

When you run `du -sh *`, the command will output the total disk usage for each file and directory in the current directory, in a human-readable format. Here's an example output:

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1716842325470/9aaa8f75-eda1-4cdc-8cce-eec05c50b139.png align="center")