# dust — A More Intuitive Version of du in Rust

> dust (du + Rust = dust) is a modern replacement for the du disk usage command. It provides a visual, color-coded tree view of directory sizes, instantly showing which folders and files consume the most disk space.

## Install

Save as a script file and run:

# dust — A More Intuitive Version of du in Rust

## Quick Use
```bash
# Install dust
brew install dust
# Or: cargo install du-dust

# Show disk usage of current directory
dust

# Show only top 10 entries
dust -n 10

# Show specific directory
dust /home/user

# Reverse order (smallest first)
dust -r

# Show apparent size (not disk usage)
dust -s

# Only show directories (not files)
dust -d
```

## Introduction
dust makes disk usage analysis instant and visual. While du requires piping through sort and head, and tools like ncdu require interactive navigation, dust shows a color-coded tree of the largest directories and files in a single command. It is the fastest way to answer "what is using all my disk space?"

With over 12,000 GitHub stars, dust is part of the Rust CLI renaissance — modern, fast alternatives to traditional Unix tools (alongside bat, fd, ripgrep, eza, and others).

## What dust Does
dust recursively scans a directory, calculates sizes, and displays results as a visual tree with proportional bars showing relative sizes. The largest items appear at the bottom (or top with -r), making it immediately obvious where disk space is being used.

## Architecture Overview
```
[dust /path]
        |
   [Recursive Directory Scanner]
   Walk filesystem tree
   Calculate sizes
        |
   [Sort by Size]
   Largest entries at bottom
        |
   [Visual Output]
   Tree structure with:
   - Color-coded bars
   - Proportional widths
   - Human-readable sizes
   - File count per dir

   Example output:
   1.2G   ┌── node_modules
   340M   │ ┌── .git
   2.1G   ├── project-a
   800M   ├── project-b
   4.5G ┌─┴ /home/user/code
```

## Self-Hosting & Configuration
```bash
# Common usage patterns

# Quick overview of home directory
dust ~

# Find space hogs in /var
sudo dust /var -n 15

# Show only directories (skip individual files)
dust -d

# Ignore specific directories
dust -X node_modules -X .git

# Show file count alongside size
dust -f

# Minimum size threshold
dust -z 100M  # only show items > 100MB

# Show percentage instead of bars
dust -p

# Combine with other tools
dust ~ -n 20 | head -25  # pipe-friendly
```

## Key Features
- **Visual Tree** — color-coded proportional bars show relative sizes
- **Instant Results** — no interactive mode, just run and see
- **Smart Defaults** — shows the most useful view without flags
- **Ignore Patterns** — skip directories like node_modules or .git
- **File Count** — optionally show number of files per directory
- **Apparent Size** — show actual content size vs disk allocation
- **Cross-Platform** — Linux, macOS, and Windows
- **Fast** — Rust-powered parallel directory traversal

## Comparison with Similar Tools
| Feature | dust | ncdu | du + sort | duf | gdu |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interface | Static tree | Interactive TUI | Text | Table | Interactive TUI |
| Visual Bars | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (disk) | Yes |
| Speed | Very Fast | Fast | Moderate | Fast | Fast |
| Interactive | No | Yes (navigate) | No | No | Yes |
| Delete Files | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Best For | Quick overview | Deep exploration | Scripts | Disk overview | Interactive cleanup |
| Language | Rust | C | C (coreutils) | Go | Go |

## FAQ
**Q: dust vs ncdu — when should I use which?**
A: dust for a quick visual overview (one command, instant answer). ncdu when you need to interactively navigate and delete files.

**Q: How do I exclude directories?**
A: Use -X flag: "dust -X node_modules -X .git -X target". Multiple -X flags for multiple exclusions.

**Q: Can dust show hidden files?**
A: Yes, dust shows hidden files by default. Use -i to ignore hidden files if needed.

**Q: Why is my total different from df?**
A: dust shows file sizes (apparent or allocated). df shows filesystem-level usage including metadata, journals, and reserved space. Use "dust -s" for apparent sizes.

## Sources
- GitHub: https://github.com/bootandy/dust
- Created by Andy Boot
- License: Apache-2.0

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Source: https://tokrepo.com/en/workflows/82d22b5a-3745-11f1-9bc6-00163e2b0d79
Author: Script Depot