1 .\" NOTE: changes to the manual page for "top" should be made in the
2 .\" file "top.X" and NOT in the file "top.1".
9 top \- display and update information about the top cpu processes
28 .\" This defines appropriate quote strings for nroff and troff
33 .\" Just in case these number registers aren't set yet...
39 processes on the system and periodically updates this information.
42 If standard output is an intelligent terminal (see below) then
43 as many processes as will fit on the terminal screen are displayed
44 by default. Otherwise, a good number of them are shown (around 20).
46 Raw cpu percentage is used to rank the processes. If
48 is given, then the top
50 processes will be displayed instead of the default.
53 makes a distinction between terminals that support advanced capabilities
54 and those that do not. This
55 distinction affects the choice of defaults for certain options. In the
56 remainder of this document, an \*(lqintelligent\*(rq terminal is one that
57 supports cursor addressing, clear screen, and clear to end of line.
58 Conversely, a \*(lqdumb\*(rq terminal is one that does not support such
59 features. If the output of
61 is redirected to a file, it acts as if it were being run on a dumb
66 Toggle CPU display mode.
67 By default top displays the weighted CPU percentage in the WCPU column
68 (this is the same value that
73 flag is passed it toggles between \*(lqraw cpu\*(rq mode
74 and \*(lqweighted cpu\*(rq mode, showing the \*(lqCPU\*(rq or
75 the \*(lqWCPU\*(rq column respectively.
78 Show system processes in the display. Normally, system processes such as
79 the pager and the swapper are not shown. This option makes them visible.
82 Display command names derived from the argv[] vector, rather than real
83 executable name. It's useful when you want to watch applications, that
84 puts their status information there. If the real name differs from argv[0],
85 it will be displayed in parenthesis.
88 Use \*(lqbatch\*(rq mode. In this mode, all input from the terminal is
89 ignored. Interrupt characters (such as ^C and ^\e) still have an effect.
90 This is the default on a dumb terminal, or when the output is not a terminal.
93 Display each thread for a multithreaded process individually.
94 By default a single summary line is displayed for each process.
97 Use \*(lqinteractive\*(rq mode. In this mode, any input is immediately
98 read for processing. See the section on \*(lqInteractive Mode\*(rq
100 which keys perform what functions. After the command is processed, the
101 screen will immediately be updated, even if the command was not
102 understood. This mode is the default when standard output is an
103 intelligent terminal.
106 Do not display idle processes.
107 By default, top displays both active and idle processes.
120 Display either 'cpu' or 'io' statistics. Default is 'cpu'.
123 Use \*(lqnon-interactive\*(rq mode. This is identical to \*(lqbatch\*(rq
127 Display per-cpu CPU usage statistics.
132 to -20 so that it will run faster. This can be used when the system is
133 being very sluggish to improve the possibility of discovering the problem.
134 This option can only be used by root.
137 Do not take the time to map uid numbers to usernames. Normally,
139 will read as much of the file \*(lq/etc/passwd\*(rq as is necessary to map
140 all the user id numbers it encounters into login names. This option
141 disables all that, while possibly decreasing execution time. The uid
142 numbers are displayed instead of the names.
145 Write version number information to stderr then exit immediately.
146 No other processing takes place when this option is used. To see current
147 revision information while top is running, use the help command \*(lq?\*(rq.
150 Do not display the system idle process.
155 displays, then exit. A display is considered to be one update of the
156 screen. This option allows the user to select the number of displays he
159 automatically exits. For intelligent terminals, no upper limit
160 is set. The default is 1 for dumb terminals.
163 Set the delay between screen updates to
165 seconds. The default delay between updates is \nD seconds.
168 Sort the process display area on the specified field. The field name is
169 the name of the column as seen in the output, but in lower case. Likely
170 values are \*(lqcpu\*(rq, \*(lqsize\*(rq, \*(lqres\*(rq, and \*(lqtime\*(rq,
171 but may vary on different operating systems. Note that
172 not all operating systems support this option.
175 Show only those processes owned by
177 This option currently only accepts usernames and will not understand
184 fields can be specified as \*(lqinfinite\*(rq, indicating that they can
185 stretch as far as possible. This is accomplished by using any proper
186 prefix of the keywords
193 on an intelligent terminal is, in fact,
196 The environment variable
198 is examined for options before the command line is scanned. This enables
199 a user to set his or her own defaults. The number of processes to display
200 can also be specified in the environment variable
208 are actually toggles. A second specification of any of these options
209 will negate the first. Thus a user who has the environment variable
211 set to \*(lq\-I\*(rq may use the command \*(lqtop \-I\*(rq to see idle processes.
212 .SH "INTERACTIVE MODE"
215 is running in \*(lqinteractive mode\*(rq, it reads commands from the
216 terminal and acts upon them accordingly. In this mode, the terminal is
217 put in \*(lqCBREAK\*(rq, so that a character will be
218 processed as soon as it is typed. Almost always, a key will be
221 is between displays; that is, while it is waiting for
223 seconds to elapse. If this is the case, the command will be
224 processed and the display will be updated immediately thereafter
225 (reflecting any changes that the command may have specified). This
226 happens even if the command was incorrect. If a key is pressed while
228 is in the middle of updating the display, it will finish the update and
229 then process the command. Some commands require additional information,
230 and the user will be prompted accordingly. While typing this information
231 in, the user's erase and kill keys (as set up by the command
233 are recognized, and a newline terminates the input.
235 These commands are currently recognized (^L refers to control-L):
239 .IP "\fBh\fP\ or\ \fB?\fP"
240 Display a summary of the commands (help screen). Version information
241 is included in this display.
248 Change the number of displays to show (prompt for new number).
249 Remember that the next display counts as one, so typing
253 show one final display and then immediately exit.
256 Toggle the display between 'cpu' and 'io' modes.
259 Change the number of processes to display (prompt for new number).
262 Change the number of seconds to delay between displays
263 (prompt for new number).
266 Toggle the display of system processes.
269 Toggle the display of process titles.
272 Send a signal (\*(lqkill\*(rq by default) to a list of processes. This
273 acts similarly to the command
277 Change the priority (the \*(lqnice\*(rq) of a list of processes.
278 This acts similarly to the command
282 Display only processes owned by a specific username (prompt for username).
283 If the username specified is simply \*(lq+\*(rq, then processes belonging
284 to all users will be displayed.
287 Change the order in which the display is sorted. This command is not
288 available on all systems. The sort key names vary from system to system
289 but usually include: \*(lqcpu\*(rq, \*(lqres\*(rq, \*(lqsize\*(rq,
290 \*(lqtime\*(rq. The default is cpu.
293 Display a list of system errors (if any) generated by the last
300 Toggle the display of threads.
305 Toggle the display of idle processes.
308 Toggle the display of
313 Toggle the display of the
318 Toggle the display of the system idle process.
320 The actual display varies depending on the specific variant of Unix
321 that the machine is running. This description may not exactly match
322 what is seen by top running on this particular machine. Differences
323 are listed at the end of this manual entry.
325 The top few lines of the display show general information
326 about the state of the system, including
327 the last process id assigned to a process (on most systems),
328 the three load averages,
330 the number of existing processes,
331 the number of processes in each state
332 (sleeping, running, starting, zombies, and stopped),
333 and a percentage of time spent in each of the processor states
334 (user, nice, system, and idle).
335 It also includes information about physical and virtual memory allocation.
337 The remainder of the screen displays information about individual
338 processes. This display is similar in spirit to
340 but it is not exactly the same. PID is the process id,
341 JID, when displayed, is the
343 ID corresponding to the process,
344 USERNAME is the name of the process's owner (if
346 is specified, a UID column will be substituted for USERNAME),
347 PRI is the current priority of the process,
348 NICE is the nice amount (in the range \-20 to 20),
349 SIZE is the total size of the process (text, data, and stack),
350 RES is the current amount of resident memory (both SIZE and RES are
352 STATE is the current state (one of \*(lqSTART\*(rq, \*(lqRUN\*(rq
353 (shown as \*(lqCPUn\*(rq on SMP systems), \*(lqSLEEP\*(rq, \*(lqSTOP\*(rq,
354 \*(lqZOMB\*(rq, \*(lqWAIT\*(rq, \*(lqLOCK\*(rq or the event on which the
356 C is the processor number on which the process is executing
357 (visible only on SMP systems),
358 TIME is the number of system and user cpu seconds that the process has used,
359 WCPU, when displayed, is the weighted cpu percentage (this is the same
363 CPU is the raw percentage and is the field that is sorted to determine
364 the order of the processes, and
365 COMMAND is the name of the command that the process is currently running
366 (if the process is swapped out, this column is marked \*(lq<swapped>\*(rq).
368 If a process is in the \*(lqSLEEP\*(rq or \*(lqLOCK\*(rq state,
369 the state column will report the name of the event or lock on which the
371 Lock names are prefixed with an asterisk \*(lq*\*(rq while sleep events
374 William LeFebvre, EECS Department, Northwestern University
377 TOP user-configurable defaults for options.
380 /dev/kmem kernel memory
382 /dev/mem physical memory
384 /etc/passwd used to map uid numbers to user names
386 /boot/kernel/kernel system image
388 Don't shoot me, but the default for
390 has changed once again. So many people were confused by the fact that
392 wasn't showing them all the processes that I have decided to make the
393 default behavior show idle processes, just like it did in version 2.
394 But to appease folks who can't stand that behavior, I have added the
395 ability to set \*(lqdefault\*(rq options in the environment variable
397 (see the OPTIONS section). Those who want the behavior that version
398 3.0 had need only set the environment variable
402 The command name for swapped processes should be tracked down, but this
403 would make the program run slower.
407 things can change while
409 is collecting information for an update. The picture it gives is only a
410 close approximation to reality.