diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 163867b..1888088 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "num_cpus 1.13.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "tempfile 3.1.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "terminal_size 0.1.13 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "thousands 0.2.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "unicode-width 0.1.8 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "walkdir 2.3.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "winapi-util 0.1.5 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
@@ -359,6 +360,11 @@ dependencies = [
  "unicode-width 0.1.8 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "thousands"
+version = "0.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "thread_local"
 version = "1.0.1"
@@ -475,6 +481,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 "checksum tempfile 3.1.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "7a6e24d9338a0a5be79593e2fa15a648add6138caa803e2d5bc782c371732ca9"
 "checksum terminal_size 0.1.13 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "9a14cd9f8c72704232f0bfc8455c0e861f0ad4eb60cc9ec8a170e231414c1e13"
 "checksum textwrap 0.11.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "d326610f408c7a4eb6f51c37c330e496b08506c9457c9d34287ecc38809fb060"
+"checksum thousands 0.2.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "3bf63baf9f5039dadc247375c29eb13706706cfde997d0330d05aa63a77d8820"
 "checksum thread_local 1.0.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "d40c6d1b69745a6ec6fb1ca717914848da4b44ae29d9b3080cbee91d72a69b14"
 "checksum treeline 0.1.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "a7f741b240f1a48843f9b8e0444fb55fb2a4ff67293b50a9179dfd5ea67f8d41"
 "checksum unicode-width 0.1.8 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "9337591893a19b88d8d87f2cec1e73fad5cdfd10e5a6f349f498ad6ea2ffb1e3"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index d2b0302..baafe8e 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ unicode-width = "0.1"
 ignore="0.4"
 crossbeam-channel = "0.4"
 walkdir="2.3"
+# todo use num_format instead
+thousands="" 
 
 [target.'cfg(windows)'.dependencies]
 winapi-util = "0.1"
diff --git a/src/display.rs b/src/display.rs
index f407284..3c964fc 100644
--- a/src/display.rs
+++ b/src/display.rs
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ use std::cmp::min;
 use std::fs;
 use std::iter::repeat;
 use std::path::Path;
+use thousands::Separable;
 
 static UNITS: [char; 4] = ['T', 'G', 'M', 'K'];
 static BLOCKS: [char; 5] = ['█', '▓', '▒', '░', ' '];
@@ -23,6 +24,8 @@ pub struct DisplayData {
     pub short_paths: bool,
     pub is_reversed: bool,
     pub colors_on: bool,
+    pub by_filecount: bool,
+    pub num_chars_needed_on_left_most: usize,
     pub base_size: u64,
     pub longest_string_length: usize,
     pub ls_colors: LsColors,
@@ -143,12 +146,20 @@ pub fn draw_it(
     is_reversed: bool,
     no_colors: bool,
     no_percents: bool,
+    by_filecount: bool,
     root_node: Node,
 ) {
     if !permissions {
         eprintln!("Did not have permissions for all directories");
     }
-    let terminal_width = (get_width_of_terminal() - 14) as usize;
+    let num_chars_needed_on_left_most = if by_filecount {
+        let max_size = root_node.children.iter().map(|n| n.size).fold(0, max);
+        max_size.separate_with_commas().chars().count()
+    } else {
+        5 // Under normal usage we need 5 chars to display the size of a directory
+    };
+
+    let terminal_width = get_width_of_terminal() as usize - 9 - num_chars_needed_on_left_most;
     let num_indent_chars = 3;
     let longest_string_length = root_node
         .children
@@ -169,6 +180,8 @@ pub fn draw_it(
             short_paths: !use_full_path,
             is_reversed,
             colors_on: !no_colors,
+            by_filecount,
+            num_chars_needed_on_left_most,
             base_size: c.size,
             longest_string_length,
             ls_colors: LsColors::from_env().unwrap_or_default(),
@@ -323,12 +336,26 @@ fn get_name_percent(
         ("".into(), name)
     }
 }
+
 fn get_pretty_size(node: &Node, is_biggest: bool, display_data: &DisplayData) -> String {
-    let pretty_size = format!("{:>5}", human_readable_number(node.size));
-    if is_biggest && display_data.colors_on {
-        format!("{}", Red.paint(pretty_size))
+    if display_data.by_filecount {
+        let size_as_str = node.size.separate_with_commas();
+        let spaces_to_add =
+            display_data.num_chars_needed_on_left_most - size_as_str.chars().count();
+        let first_size_bar = size_as_str + &*repeat(' ').take(spaces_to_add).collect::<String>();
+
+        if is_biggest && display_data.colors_on {
+            format!("{}", Red.paint(first_size_bar))
+        } else {
+            first_size_bar
+        }
     } else {
-        pretty_size
+        let pretty_size = format!("{:>5}", human_readable_number(node.size));
+        if is_biggest && display_data.colors_on {
+            format!("{}", Red.paint(pretty_size))
+        } else {
+            pretty_size
+        }
     }
 }
 fn get_pretty_name(node: &Node, name_and_padding: String, display_data: &DisplayData) -> String {
@@ -372,6 +399,8 @@ mod tests {
             short_paths: true,
             is_reversed: false,
             colors_on: false,
+            by_filecount: false,
+            num_chars_needed_on_left_most: 5,
             base_size: 1,
             longest_string_length: longest_string_length,
             ls_colors: LsColors::from_env().unwrap_or_default(),
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index ee68804..04efc7e 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -120,6 +120,13 @@ fn main() {
                 .long("no-percent-bars")
                 .help("No percent bars or percentages will be displayed"),
         )
+        .arg(
+            Arg::with_name("by_filecount")
+                .short("f")
+                .long("filecount")
+                .help("Directory 'size' is number of child files/dirs not disk size"),
+        )
+
         .arg(Arg::with_name("inputs").multiple(true))
         .get_matches();
 
@@ -157,6 +164,7 @@ fn main() {
         Some(i) => Some(i.map(PathBuf::from).collect()),
         None => None,
     };
+    let by_filecount = options.is_present("by_filecount");
 
     let simplified_dirs = simplify_dir_names(target_dirs);
     let (permissions, nodes) = get_dir_tree(
@@ -164,6 +172,7 @@ fn main() {
         &ignore_directories,
         use_apparent_size,
         limit_filesystem,
+        by_filecount,
         depth,
     );
     let sorted_data = sort(nodes);
@@ -181,6 +190,7 @@ fn main() {
         !options.is_present("reverse"),
         no_colors,
         options.is_present("no_bars"),
+        by_filecount,
         tree,
     );
 }
diff --git a/src/utils/mod.rs b/src/utils/mod.rs
index 9002008..651d354 100644
--- a/src/utils/mod.rs
+++ b/src/utils/mod.rs
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ pub fn get_dir_tree<P: AsRef<Path>>(
     ignore_directories: &Option<Vec<PathBuf>>,
     apparent_size: bool,
     limit_filesystem: bool,
+    by_filecount: bool,
     max_depth: Option<usize>,
 ) -> (bool, HashMap<PathBuf, u64>) {
     let (tx, rx) = channel::bounded::<PathData>(1000);
@@ -144,7 +145,8 @@ pub fn get_dir_tree<P: AsRef<Path>>(
 
                     match maybe_size_and_inode {
                         Some(data) => {
-                            let (size, inode_device) = data;
+                            let (size, inode_device) =
+                                if by_filecount { (1, data.1) } else { data };
                             txc.send((p.into_path(), size, inode_device)).unwrap();
                         }
                         None => {