diskhog

TUI that lists the largest files on disk and lets you delete the ones you pick — either to the trash, or for real — with each file's size and its share of total disk space shown right in the list.

$ diskhog /                       # scan the whole filesystem
$ diskhog ~/Downloads              # or any directory
$ diskhog --top 200 /var           # show more than the default 30
$ diskhog --max-cpu 60 /var        # allow a bigger/smaller worker pool than the default 30%

The directory is required — diskhog never picks a scan target for you.

Stays on the filesystem it started on — it won't wander into /proc, /sys, other mounted disks, or network shares. Symlinks are skipped so they can't be followed off the filesystem or double-count another file's size. The walk itself is parallel (via the ignore crate — the same walker ripgrep uses), capped by default to ~30% of available cores so a scan doesn't try to claim the whole machine — adjustable with --max-cpu <1-100> — with a live "N files scanned so far" counter printed while it runs.

Deleting always asks, and always asks which way

Selecting a file and pressing Enter/d shows a confirmation dialog with the exact path and size, and two ways to actually remove it:

• t — move to the trash (via the trash crate, following the freedesktop.org trash spec on Linux), recoverable like anything else you deleted by hand. This does not free disk space — on the file's own filesystem it's a same-filesystem rename, so the data blocks stay allocated until the trash itself is emptied.
• p — permanently delete it (an actual unlink). Frees the space immediately; no way back.

Any other key cancels.

Install

• Cargo: cargo install diskhog
• Debian package: https://github.com/wabuntu/diskhog/tree/main/target/debian
• RPM package: https://github.com/wabuntu/diskhog/tree/main/target/release/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64
• Single binary: https://github.com/wabuntu/diskhog/tree/main/binaries

Usage

Keys:

• ↑/↓: move the selection
• Enter / d: open the delete confirmation for the selected file
• t: move it to the trash (recoverable, space not freed)
• p: permanently delete it (frees space, no undo)
• any other key: cancel the pending delete
• q / Esc: quit

Flags:

• --top <N>: how many of the largest files to show (default 30)
• --max-cpu <1-100>: cap the scan's worker threads to this percentage of available cores (default 30)