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COMMAND-LINE-BASICS5 MIN READ

Find Large Files Without Wandering the Filesystem

Use a scoped command sequence to identify large files before deleting or archiving anything.

step trail before-after panel now-you-try card Nadia needs to identify large build artifacts on a nearly full build machine without touching system files or deleting critical data. SCOPE -> DISCOVER -> SIZE -> SORT -> CONFIRM -> CLEAN The common trap is starting at / or deleting the largest file immediately. That mixes discovery with destructive action and ignores ownership. Scope Start in /builds/project-a, not the filesystem root. The starting point is the biggest safety control and avoids irrelevant permission errors. Discover Run find . -type f -size +500M -print. This is read-only discovery. It returns candidates, not delete permission.…

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