The Linux df command answers a simple question: how much storage space is available? If you have ever checked whether your phone, laptop, or game console has enough room for another game, movie, or download, you already understand the basic idea.

Start With df -h

df -h

The -h option means human-readable. Instead of showing large storage values in harder-to-read units, Linux displays familiar sizes such as MB, GB, and TB.

What Should You Look For?

When you run df -h, focus first on two columns: Size tells you the total size, and Avail tells you roughly how much space is still available. You may also see Use%, which shows how full the storage is.

Simple Example

$ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1       500G  300G  200G  60% /

In this simplified example, the computer has about 500 GB total, about 300 GB is being used, and about 200 GB remains available.

A Familiar Way to Think About It

• Gaming: Is there enough space to install another game?
• Movies and music: Is there room for more downloads?
• Photos: Is your storage getting full?
• Bitcoin mining: Does the Linux computer you use for management, logs, or software still have free disk space?

The subject changes, but the question is the same: how much storage do I have, and how much is left?

Try It

df -h

Run the command in a Linux terminal. Find the Size, Avail, and Use% columns. Do not worry about memorizing every column yet.

Video Reference

This beginner video demonstrates the Linux df command, explains its output, and shows the human-readable -h option.

Quick Practice

1. Run df -h.
2. Find the total storage size.
3. Find the available storage.
4. Find the percentage currently in use.
5. In one sentence, explain what df -h tells you.

Key Takeaway

df -h is an easy way to check Linux disk space in readable units. Remember it as: How much storage do I have left?