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top — processes and load in real time

cheat sheet · Ubuntu 24.04 · procps-ng 4.0.4 https://lab.dimsanych.ru/en/wiki/top/

Cheat sheet

top a live process list; q to quit
top -o %MEM sorted by memory from the start
top -u student one user's processes
top -p 1234,1240 only these PIDs
top -d 5 refresh every 5 seconds
top -b -n 1 | head -n 15 one plain-text snapshot — for a report
inside: P — by CPU, M — by memory, 1 — per core, c — full
command, k — send a signal, h — help, q — quit

Options

Most settings are easier to change with keys inside top; startup options are for scripts and snapshots. Full list — man top.