Linux and Unix top command help

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Linux and Unix top command

Quick links About top Syntax Examples Related commands Linux and Unix main page About top Display Linux tasks. Syntax top -hv | -bcisS -d delay -n iterations -p pid [, pid ...] The traditional switches '-' and whitespace are optional.

-b

Batch mode operation Starts top in 'Batch mode', which could be useful for sending output from top to other programs or to a file. In this mode, top will not accept input and runs until the iterations limit you've set with the '-n' command-line option or until killed. Command line/Program name toggle Starts top with the last remembered 'c' state reversed. Thus, if top was displaying command lines, now that field will show program names, and visa versa. See the 'c' interactive command for additional information. Delay time interval as: -d ss.tt (seconds.tenths) Specifies the delay between screen updates, and overrides the corresponding value in one's personal configuration file or the startup default. Later this can be changed with the 'd' or 's' interactive commands. Fractional seconds are honored, but a negative number is not allowed. In all cases, however, such changes are prohibited if top is running in 'Secure mode', except for root (unless the 's' command-line option was used). For additional information on 'Secure mode' see topic 5a. SYSTEM Configuration File.

-c

-d

-h -i

Help Show library version and the usage prompt, then quit. Idle Processes toggle Starts top with the last remembered 'i' state reversed. When this toggle is Off, tasks that

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Linux and Unix top command help

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are idled or zombied will not be displayed. -n Number of iterations limit as: -n number Specifies the maximum number of iterations, or frames, top should produce before ending. Monitor by user as: -u somebody Monitor only processes with an effective UID or user name matching that given. Monitor by user as: -U somebody Monitor only processes with a UID or user name matching that given. This matches real, effective, saved, and filesystem UIDs. Monitor PIDs as: -pN1 -pN2 ... or -pN1, N2 [,...] Monitor only processes with specified process IDs. This option can be given up to 20 times, or you can provide a comma delimited list with up to 20 pids. Co-mingling both approaches is permitted. This is a command-line option only. And should you wish to return to normal operation, it is not necessary to quit and and restart top -- just issue the '=' interactive command. -s Secure mode operation Starts top with secure mode forced, even for root. This mode is far better controlled through the system configuration file (see topic 5. FILES). Cumulative time mode toggle Starts top with the last remembered 'S' state reversed. When 'Cumulative mode' is On, each process is listed with the cpu time that it and its dead children have used. See the 'S' interactive command for additional information regarding this mode. Version Show library version and the usage prompt, then quit.

-u -U

-p

-S

-v

Examples When operating top, the two most important keys are help ('h' or '?') and quit ('q') key. Alternatively, you could use the traditional interrupt key ('^C') when you're done. top Running the above command would give you a display similar to the below example. While the tasks are being displayed you can use any of the startup commands listed after the below example output.
top - 20:50:55 up 167 days, 14:26, 82 users, load average: 0.13, 0.05, 0.01 Tasks: 3 total, 1 running, 2 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 0.0% user, 2.2% system, 0.0% nice, 97.8% idle Mem: 514964k total, 507860k used, 7104k free, 30404k buffers Swap: 1630588k total, 158708k used, 1471880k free, 275380k cached

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Linux and Unix top command help

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND 3747 hope 11 0 2004 1608 1608 S 0.3 0.3 0:00.56 sshd 22245 hope 10 0 688 676 672 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.06 csh 14015 hope 10 0 1024 1024 848 R 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 top

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Startup Defaults The following startup defaults assume no configuration file, thus no user customizations. Even so, items shown with an asterisk ('*') could be overridden through the command-line.

A *d I *p *s B l t m 1 b *c *i R *S x y z

Alt display Off (full-screen) Delay time 3.0 seconds Irix mode On (no, 'solaris' smp) PID monitoring Off Secure mode Off (unsecured) Bold disable Off Load Avg/Uptime On (thus program name) Task/Cpu states On (1+1 lines, see '1') Mem/Swap usage On (2 lines worth) Single Cpu On (thus 1 line if smp) Bold hilite On (not 'reverse') Command line Off (name, not cmdline) Idle tasks On (show all tasks) Reverse sort On (pids high-to-low) Cumulative time Off (no, dead children) Column hilite Off (no, sort field) Row hilite On (yes, running tasks) color/mono Off (no, colors)

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