A note of caution \u2013 always be careful what you delete on your system as this may lead to unwanted data loss. If you are using a new tool, first try it in a test directory where deleting files will not be a problem.<\/p>\n
Rdfind \u2013 Finds Duplicate Files in Linux<\/h3>\n
Rdfind<\/strong>\u00a0comes from redundant data find. It is a free tool used to find duplicate files across or within multiple directories. It uses checksum and find duplicates based on file contains not only names.<\/p>\n Rdfind<\/strong>\u00a0uses algorithm to classify the files and detects which of the duplicates is the original file and considers the rest as duplicates. The rules of ranking are:<\/p>\n The last rule is used particularly when two files are found in the same directory.<\/p>\n To install\u00a0rdfind<\/strong>\u00a0in Linux, use the following command as per your Linux distribution.<\/p>\n To run\u00a0rdfind<\/strong>\u00a0on a directory simply type\u00a0rdfind<\/strong>\u00a0and the target directory. Here is an example:<\/p>\n Find Duplicate Files in Linux<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As you can see\u00a0rdfind<\/strong>\u00a0will save the results in file called\u00a0results.txt<\/strong>\u00a0located in the same directory from where you ran the program. The file contains all the duplicate files that rdfind has found. You can review the file and remove the duplicate files manually if you want to.<\/p>\n Another thing you can do is to use the\u00a0 When you find the duplicates, you can choose to replace them with hardlinks.<\/p>\n And if you wish to delete the duplicates you can run.<\/p>\n To check other useful options of\u00a0rdfind<\/strong>\u00a0you can use the\u00a0rdfind<\/strong>\u00a0manual with.<\/p>\n Fdupes<\/a>\u00a0is another program that allows you to identify duplicate files on your system. It is free and open source and written in C. It uses following methods to determine duplicate files:<\/p>\n Just like\u00a0rdfind<\/strong>\u00a0it has similar options:<\/p>\n Fdupes<\/strong>\u00a0syntax is similar to\u00a0rdfind<\/strong>. Simply type the command followed by the directory you wish to scan.<\/p>\n To search files recursively, you will have to specify the\u00a0 You can also specify multiple directories and specify a\u00a0dir<\/strong>\u00a0to be searched recursively.<\/p>\n To have fdupes calculate the size of the duplicate files use the\u00a0 To gather summarized information about the found files use the\u00a0 Scan Duplicate Files in Linux<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Finally if you want to delete all duplicates use the\u00a0 Fdupes<\/strong>\u00a0will ask which of the found files to delete. You will need to enter the file number:<\/p>\n Delete Duplicate Files in Linux<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A solution that is definitely not recommended is to use the\u00a0 To get a list of available options to use with\u00a0fdupes<\/strong>\u00a0review the help page by running.<\/p>\n Rdfind<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0fdupes<\/strong>\u00a0are both very useful tools to find duplicated files on your Linux system, but you should be very careful when deleting such files.<\/p>\n If you are unsure if you need a file or not, it would be better to create a backup of that file and remember its directory prior deleting it. If you have any questions or comments, please submit them in the comment section below.<\/p>\n\n
$ sudo apt-get install rdfind [On Debian\/Ubuntu<\/strong>]\r\n$ sudo yum install epel-release && $ sudo yum install rdfind [On CentOS\/RHEL<\/strong>]\r\n$ sudo dnf install rdfind [On Fedora 22+<\/strong>]\r\n<\/pre>\n
$ rdfind \/home\/user\r\n<\/pre>\n
![\"Find](\"https:\/\/www.tecmint.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Find-Duplicate-Files-in-Linux.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n-dryrun<\/code>\u00a0option that will provide a list of duplicates without taking any actions:<\/p>\n$ rdfind -dryrun true \/home\/user\r\n<\/pre>\n
$ rdfind -makehardlinks true \/home\/user\r\n<\/pre>\n
$ rdfind -deleteduplicates true \/home\/user\r\n<\/pre>\n
$ man rdfind \r\n<\/pre>\n
Fdupes \u2013 Scan for Duplicate Files in Linux<\/h3>\n
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$ fdupes <dir>\r\n<\/pre>\n
-r<\/code>\u00a0option like this.<\/p>\n$ fdupes -r <dir>\r\n<\/pre>\n
$ fdupes <dir1> -r <dir2>\r\n<\/pre>\n
-S<\/code>\u00a0option.<\/p>\n$ fdupes -S <dir>\r\n<\/pre>\n
-m<\/code>\u00a0option.<\/p>\n$ fdupes -m <dir>\r\n<\/pre>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n-d<\/code>\u00a0option like this.<\/p>\n$ fdupes -d <dir>\r\n<\/pre>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n-N<\/code>\u00a0option which will result in preserving the first file only.<\/p>\n$ fdupes -dN <dir>\r\n<\/pre>\n
$ fdupes -help\r\n<\/pre>\n
Conclusion<\/h5>\n