2024-11-24

Alias to check Storage from terminal on macOS

Here are common ways to check storage on macOS

  •  -> About This Mac -> More Info... -> Storage

  • System Settings -> General -> Storage

  • Using Raycast or Alfred: search for "Storage"

431.65 GB of 494.38 GB used

Here's how to create an alias to check storage on terminal, but I wanted to see free space rather than used space

Alias

~/.zshrc

alias storage="diskutil info / | grep 'Container' | awk '/Free Space/ {free=\$4; unit=\$5} /Total Space/ {total=\$4} END {print free, unit, \"of\", total, unit, \"free\"}'"

Usage and output

❯ storage
57.0 GB of 494.4 GB free

Breakdown of the alias

diskutil info /

Displays disk information for the root volume /.

❯ diskutil info /
   Device Identifier:         disk3s1s1
   Device Node:               /dev/disk3s1s1
   Whole:                     No
   Part of Whole:             disk3
 
   Volume Name:               Macintosh HD
   Mounted:                   Yes
   Mount Point:               /
   ...
   ...

| grep 'Container'

Filters lines containing "Container"

❯ diskutil info / | grep 'Container'
   Container Total Space:     494.4 GB (494384795648 Bytes) (exactly 965595304 512-Byte-Units)
   Container Free Space:      57.0 GB (57048616960 Bytes) (exactly 111423080 512-Byte-Units)
   APFS Container:            disk3

| awk

Processes and extracts values

  • /Free Space/ {free=$4; unit=$5}

    Captures the line with "Free Space", and assign 4th column to variable free, 5th column to unit

  • /Total Space/ {total=$4}

    Captures the line with "Total Space", and assign 4th column to variable total

  • {print free, unit, "of", total, unit, "free"}

    Print the text with variables assigned

Run the whole commands

❯ diskutil info / | grep 'Container' | awk '/Free Space/ {free=$4; unit=$5} /Total Space/ {total=$4} END {print free, unit, "of", total, unit, "free"}'
57.0 GB of 494.4 GB free

Use escaped characters for $ (\$) and " (\") for alias to work like so

alias storage="diskutil info / | grep 'Container' | awk '/Free Space/ {free=\$4; unit=\$5} /Total Space/ {total=\$4} END {print free, unit, \"of\", total, unit, \"free\"}'"