You can see the actual size of a sparse file vs. the apparent size.
# ls -l /var/log/lastlog
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root utmp 684182572 Oct 24 16:56 /var/log/lastlog
# du --apparent-size /var/log/lastlog
668148 /var/log/lastlog# du -h /var/log/lastlog
48K /var/log/lastlog
# ls -ls /var/log/lastlog
48 -rw-rw-r-- 1 root utmp 684182572 Oct 24 16:56 /var/log/lastlogFor whatever reason you may find some files with unrecognized or missencoded characters that need to be removed. Because the terminal doesn’t recognize the characters it’s difficult to do anything with them.
# ls -l
-rw-r--r-- 1 www-data www-data 14828193 Nov 26 2008 ?¡?ú?©?ç?}?¤?I?@á�????�?ï?i?r?g?j?j [51] 2008.10.02 ?w?¼?e?Ɋm?F?µ?Ă݂܂·?I?x - HirataTalk +AB Quiz.wma
-rw-r--r-- 1 www-data www-data 14568695 Nov 26 2008 ?V?g?ƈ«???̎·???J?t?F?ւ悤?±?» [01] 2007.08.31 - ?ò?é?݂䂫.wma
-rw-r--r-- 1 www-data www-data 11898139 Nov 26 2008 ?V?g?ƈ«???̎·???J?t?F?ւ悤?±?» [02] 2007.09.07 - kukui.wma
-rw-r--r-- 1 www-data www-data 11642799 Nov 26 2008 ?V?g?ƈ«???̎·???J?t?F?ւ悤?±?» [03] 2007.09.14 - ?ێu???ê?N.wma
#Use the -i flag with ls to obtain the inode number of the files:
# ls -li
6886578 -rw-r--r-- 1 www-data www-data 14828193 Nov 26 2008 ?¡?ú?©?ç?}?¤?I?@á�????�?ï?i?r?g?j?j [51] 2008.10.02 ?w?¼?e?Ɋm?F?µ?Ă݂܂·?I?x - HirataTalk +AB Quiz.wma
6886580 -rw-r--r-- 1 www-data www-data 14568695 Nov 26 2008 ?V?g?ƈ«???̎·???J?t?F?ւ悤?±?» [01] 2007.08.31 - ?ò?é?݂䂫.wma
6886581 -rw-r--r-- 1 www-data www-data 11898139 Nov 26 2008 ?V?g?ƈ«???̎·???J?t?F?ւ悤?±?» [02] 2007.09.07 - kukui.wma
6886582 -rw-r--r-- 1 www-data www-data 11642799 Nov 26 2008 ?V?g?ƈ«???̎·???J?t?F?ւ悤?±?» [03] 2007.09.14 - ?ێu???ê?N.wma
#Now use find with the -inum flag to find only the file with a specific inode number. Then delete it:
# find . -inum 6886578 -delete
#