How to Delete Duplicate Files in Linux

There is a dedicated tool in Linux to finds duplicate files in a given set of directories.

yum install fdupes

Now, if---for example---one wants to find duplicates in the /cmn and /home/tomek directories, one have to enter the following command:

fdupes -r /cmn /home/tomek
## or prompt the user for  files  to  preserve, deleting all others:
fdupes -r -d /cmn /home/tomek
## or preserve  the  first  file  in each  set  of duplicates and delete 
## the others without prompting the user (terrifying dangerous:-):
fdupes -r -d -N /cmn /home/tomek

Note -r for recursive. Without -r subdirectories are not scanned. One have to remember not to remove duplicates one needs.

Fdupes searches the given paths for duplicate files. Such files are found by comparing file sizes and MD5 signatures, followed by a byte-by-byte comparison.