CompTIA Linux+ XK0-006 (V8) Practice Question

The correct command is du -h --max-depth=1 /var/log. The du command is used to estimate file space usage. The -h option presents the sizes in a human-readable format (e.g., K for kilobytes, M for megabytes). The --max-depth=1 option is crucial here; it restricts the output to a depth of one directory level below the target (/var/log), thus showing the total size of each immediate subdirectory without descending further.

• du -sh /var/log/* is incorrect because it relies on shell globbing (*) to list the contents of /var/log. This approach will not show the size of hidden directories (those starting with a dot) and is a less direct way to control directory depth.
• df -h /var/log is incorrect. The df (disk free) command reports the total disk space usage for the entire filesystem on which /var/log resides, not the specific usage of the /var/log directory and its subdirectories.
• ls -lh /var/log is incorrect. The ls command lists directory contents. For directories, the size it displays is that of the directory file itself (the metadata), not the total size of all the files and subdirectories it contains.