Display ls command file sizes in KB (kilobytes) MB (megabytes) or GB (gigabytes) [Linux/macOS]

If you want to know the list of files in a directory you are in, you can use the ls command,

ls
bin  boot  cocalc  dev  etc  ext
home  lib  lib32  lib64  libx32
media  mnt  opt  proc  root  run
sbin  secrets  srv  sys  tmp  usr
var

Now lets try ls -l where -l: long listing format,

ls -l
total 32
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root 87188 Aug 18 09:54 bin
drwxr-xr-x    2 root root  4096 Apr 24  2018 boot
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root  4096 Aug 12 20:40 cocalc
drwxr-xr-x    5 root root   360 Aug 22 09:59 dev
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root  4896 Aug 18 10:47 etc
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root   232 Aug 18 11:17 ext
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root  4096 Aug 12 20:40 home
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root 17526 Aug 18 09:53 lib
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root  2422 May 27 12:25 lib32
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root    40 May 25 12:51 lib64
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root  2544 May 27 12:25 libx32
drwxr-xr-x    2 root root  4096 Jul 13 14:48 media
drwxr-xr-x    2 root root  4096 Jul 13 14:48 mnt
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root    64 Jul 30 12:41 opt
dr-xr-xr-x 2313 root root     0 Aug 22 09:59 proc
drwx------    2 root root  4096 Jul 13 14:49 root
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root  4096 Aug 12 20:40 run
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root  8994 Aug 18 09:53 sbin
drwxr-xr-x    4 root root  4096 Aug 22 09:59 secrets
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root     0 Apr 23 11:06 srv
dr-xr-xr-x   13 root root     0 Aug 22 09:59 sys
drwxrwxrwt    5 root root   100 Aug 22 10:02 tmp
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root   122 May 28 17:35 usr
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root   108 May 27 12:21 var
/$ 

How to display file or directory size using ls in KB, MB or GB?

In order to display file or directory size KBs (Kilobytes), MB (megabytes) or GB (gigabytes) you can make use the ls -lh command.

/$ ls -lh
total 32K
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root  86G Aug 18 09:54 bin
drwxr-xr-x    2 root root 4.0K Apr 24  2018 boot
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root 4.0K Aug 12 20:40 cocalc
drwxr-xr-x    5 root root  360 Aug 22 09:59 dev
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root 4.8M Aug 18 10:47 etc
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root  232 Aug 18 11:17 ext
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root 4.0K Aug 12 20:40 home
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root  18K Aug 18 09:53 lib
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root 2.4K May 27 12:25 lib32
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root   40 May 25 12:51 lib64
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root 2.5K May 27 12:25 libx32
drwxr-xr-x    2 root root 4.0K Jul 13 14:48 media
drwxr-xr-x    2 root root 4.0K Jul 13 14:48 mnt
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root   64 Jul 30 12:41 opt
dr-xr-xr-x 2230 root root    0 Aug 22 09:59 proc
drwx------    2 root root 4.0K Jul 13 14:49 root
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root 4.0K Aug 12 20:40 run
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root 8.8K Aug 18 09:53 sbin
drwxr-xr-x    4 root root 4.0K Aug 22 09:59 secrets
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root    0 Apr 23 11:06 srv
dr-xr-xr-x   13 root root    0 Aug 22 09:59 sys
drwxrwxrwt    5 root root  100 Aug 22 10:04 tmp
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root  122 May 28 17:35 usr
drwxr-xr-x    1 root root  108 May 27 12:21 var
/$ 

Note that now the sizes are displayed with a number followed by K -> Kilobytes where every you do not see K the size are in bytes.

⛏️ This command will work on all flavors of Linux, Unix, macOS and Windows Bash Shell.