Why does every directory have a size 4096 bytes (4 K)?

Question

As the subject says; I want to know why is every directory having a size equals to 4K even if they contain files with sizes greater than 4K.

Please have a look at the following:-

a)

b)

PS: I am aware of 'du -sh' command line utility.

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edit: I am assuming directory as a container for files.

Answer 1

• Without getting too technical, think of a directory entry as simply a "link" to a list of the files the directory "contains."
• Then, as with everything, ls shows you the size of that link, not the total space occupied by the contents of the directory.
• The minimum size a file or directory entry/link must occupy is one block, which is usually 4096 bytes/4K on most ext3/4 filesystems.

Answer 2

If a file contains any data at all (even a single byte), it will occupy one block on the disk (which is typically 4k these days). One block cannot be shared between files. This means that the space of that whole block will not be available for other files, so it is considered "used".

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