---
title: "Checking the Size of node_modules Directories in Your Workspace"
date: 2023-09-22T15:05:32.000Z
author: Z.SHINCHVEN
tags: [Nodejs, npm, node_modules, du, find, xargs]
canonical: https://atlassc.net/2023/09/23/node-modules-size-checker
---
![node_modules](https://blogimgs.atlassc.net/images/npm/node-modules.jpg)

Node.js developers often find themselves dealing with large `node_modules` directories. These directories can take up a lot of disk space, especially if you're working on multiple projects. In this post, we'll show you how to check the size of all `node_modules` directories in your workspace using the terminal.

## The Tools

We'll be using two commands: `find` and `du`. The `find` command is used to locate files and directories, and the `du` command is used to estimate file and directory space usage.

## The Command

Here's the command we'll be using:

```bash
find . -name "node_modules" -type d -prune | xargs du -sh
```

Let's break this down:

- `find . -name "node_modules" -type d -prune`: This part of the command is looking for directories (`-type d`) named `node_modules` in the current directory (`.`) and all its subdirectories. The `-prune` option stops `find` from searching any further if it finds a `node_modules` directory. This prevents it from finding `node_modules` directories nested within other `node_modules` directories.

- `xargs du -sh`: This part of the command calculates the size of each directory found by the `find` command. `xargs` is used to pass the list of directories to the `du` command. The `-s` option tells `du` to only include the total size of each directory, not the sizes of the individual files within them. The `-h` option makes the output human-readable, converting bytes into kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, etc., as necessary.

## Calculating the Total Size

If you want to calculate the total size of all `node_modules` directories combined, you can add the `-c` option to the `du` command:

```bash
find . -name "node_modules" -type d -prune | xargs du -sch
```

The `-c` option tells `du` to produce a grand total at the end of its output.

## Conclusion

Knowing how to check the size of your `node_modules` directories can be very useful, especially when you're trying to free up disk space. By using the `find` and `du` commands, you can easily find out how much space each `node_modules` directory is taking up, and even get a total of all the `node_modules` directories combined. Happy coding!