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
30 .\" This defines appropriate quote strings for nroff and troff
35 .\" Just in case these number registers aren't set yet...
41 processes on the system and periodically updates this information.
44 If standard output is an intelligent terminal (see below) then
45 as many processes as will fit on the terminal screen are displayed
46 by default. Otherwise, a good number of them are shown (around 20).
48 Raw cpu percentage is used to rank the processes. If
50 is given, then the top
52 processes will be displayed instead of the default.
55 makes a distinction between terminals that support advanced capabilities
56 and those that do not. This
57 distinction affects the choice of defaults for certain options. In the
58 remainder of this document, an \*(lqintelligent\*(rq terminal is one that
59 supports cursor addressing, clear screen, and clear to end of line.
60 Conversely, a \*(lqdumb\*(rq terminal is one that does not support such
61 features. If the output of
63 is redirected to a file, it acts as if it were being run on a dumb
68 Toggle CPU display mode.
69 By default top displays the weighted CPU percentage in the WCPU column
70 (this is the same value that
75 flag is passed it toggles between \*(lqraw cpu\*(rq mode
76 and \*(lqweighted cpu\*(rq mode, showing the \*(lqCPU\*(rq or
77 the \*(lqWCPU\*(rq column respectively.
80 Show system processes in the display. Normally, system processes such as
81 the pager and the swapper are not shown. This option makes them visible.
84 Display command names derived from the argv[] vector, rather than real
85 executable name. It's useful when you want to watch applications, that
86 puts their status information there. If the real name differs from argv[0],
87 it will be displayed in parenthesis.
90 Use \*(lqbatch\*(rq mode. In this mode, all input from the terminal is
91 ignored. Interrupt characters (such as ^C and ^\e) still have an effect.
92 This is the default on a dumb terminal, or when the output is not a terminal.
95 Display each thread for a multithreaded process individually.
96 By default a single summary line is displayed for each process.
99 Use \*(lqinteractive\*(rq mode. In this mode, any input is immediately
100 read for processing. See the section on \*(lqInteractive Mode\*(rq
101 for an explanation of
102 which keys perform what functions. After the command is processed, the
103 screen will immediately be updated, even if the command was not
104 understood. This mode is the default when standard output is an
105 intelligent terminal.
108 Do not display idle processes.
109 By default, top displays both active and idle processes.
122 Display either 'cpu' or 'io' statistics. Default is 'cpu'.
125 Use \*(lqnon-interactive\*(rq mode. This is identical to \*(lqbatch\*(rq
129 Display per-cpu CPU usage statistics.
134 to -20 so that it will run faster. This can be used when the system is
135 being very sluggish to improve the possibility of discovering the problem.
136 This option can only be used by root.
139 Do not take the time to map uid numbers to usernames. Normally,
141 will read as much of the file \*(lq/etc/passwd\*(rq as is necessary to map
142 all the user id numbers it encounters into login names. This option
143 disables all that, while possibly decreasing execution time. The uid
144 numbers are displayed instead of the names.
147 Write version number information to stderr then exit immediately.
148 No other processing takes place when this option is used. To see current
149 revision information while top is running, use the help command \*(lq?\*(rq.
152 Do not display the system idle process.
157 displays, then exit. A display is considered to be one update of the
158 screen. This option allows the user to select the number of displays he
161 automatically exits. For intelligent terminals, no upper limit
162 is set. The default is 1 for dumb terminals.
165 Set the delay between screen updates to
167 seconds. The default delay between updates is \nD seconds.
170 Sort the process display area on the specified field. The field name is
171 the name of the column as seen in the output, but in lower case. Likely
172 values are \*(lqcpu\*(rq, \*(lqsize\*(rq, \*(lqres\*(rq, and \*(lqtime\*(rq,
173 but may vary on different operating systems. Note that
174 not all operating systems support this option.
177 Show only those processes owned by
179 This may be either the
186 to limit to host processes.
187 Using this option implies the
192 Show only those processes owned by
194 This option currently only accepts usernames and will not understand
201 fields can be specified as \*(lqinfinite\*(rq, indicating that they can
202 stretch as far as possible. This is accomplished by using any proper
203 prefix of the keywords
210 on an intelligent terminal is, in fact,
213 The environment variable
215 is examined for options before the command line is scanned. This enables
216 a user to set his or her own defaults. The number of processes to display
217 can also be specified in the environment variable
231 are actually toggles. A second specification of any of these options
232 will negate the first. Thus a user who has the environment variable
234 set to \*(lq\-I\*(rq may use the command \*(lqtop \-I\*(rq to see idle processes.
235 .SH "INTERACTIVE MODE"
238 is running in \*(lqinteractive mode\*(rq, it reads commands from the
239 terminal and acts upon them accordingly. In this mode, the terminal is
240 put in \*(lqCBREAK\*(rq, so that a character will be
241 processed as soon as it is typed. Almost always, a key will be
244 is between displays; that is, while it is waiting for
246 seconds to elapse. If this is the case, the command will be
247 processed and the display will be updated immediately thereafter
248 (reflecting any changes that the command may have specified). This
249 happens even if the command was incorrect. If a key is pressed while
251 is in the middle of updating the display, it will finish the update and
252 then process the command. Some commands require additional information,
253 and the user will be prompted accordingly. While typing this information
254 in, the user's erase and kill keys (as set up by the command
256 are recognized, and a newline terminates the input.
258 These commands are currently recognized (^L refers to control-L):
262 .IP "\fBh\fP\ or\ \fB?\fP"
263 Display a summary of the commands (help screen). Version information
264 is included in this display.
271 Change the number of displays to show (prompt for new number).
272 Remember that the next display counts as one, so typing
276 show one final display and then immediately exit.
279 Toggle the display between 'cpu' and 'io' modes.
282 Change the number of processes to display (prompt for new number).
285 Change the number of seconds to delay between displays
286 (prompt for new number).
289 Toggle the display of system processes.
292 Toggle the display of process titles.
295 Send a signal (\*(lqkill\*(rq by default) to a list of processes. This
296 acts similarly to the command
300 Change the priority (the \*(lqnice\*(rq) of a list of processes.
301 This acts similarly to the command
305 Display only processes owned by a specific username (prompt for username).
306 If the username specified is simply \*(lq+\*(rq, then processes belonging
307 to all users will be displayed.
310 Change the order in which the display is sorted. This command is not
311 available on all systems. The sort key names vary from system to system
312 but usually include: \*(lqcpu\*(rq, \*(lqres\*(rq, \*(lqsize\*(rq,
313 \*(lqtime\*(rq. The default is cpu.
316 Display a list of system errors (if any) generated by the last
323 Toggle the display of threads.
328 Toggle the display of idle processes.
331 Toggle the display of
336 Display only processes owned by a specific jail (prompt for jail).
337 If the jail specified is simply \*(lq+\*(rq, then processes belonging
338 to all jails and the host will be displayed.
339 This will also enable the display of JID.
342 Toggle the display of per-CPU statistics.
345 Toggle the display of the
350 Toggle the display of the system idle process.
352 The actual display varies depending on the specific variant of Unix
353 that the machine is running. This description may not exactly match
354 what is seen by top running on this particular machine. Differences
355 are listed at the end of this manual entry.
357 The top few lines of the display show general information
358 about the state of the system, including
359 the last process id assigned to a process (on most systems),
360 the three load averages,
362 the number of existing processes,
363 the number of processes in each state
364 (sleeping, running, starting, zombies, and stopped),
365 and a percentage of time spent in each of the processor states
366 (user, nice, system, and idle).
367 It also includes information about physical and virtual memory allocation.
369 The remainder of the screen displays information about individual
370 processes. This display is similar in spirit to
372 but it is not exactly the same. PID is the process id,
373 JID, when displayed, is the
375 ID corresponding to the process,
376 USERNAME is the name of the process's owner (if
378 is specified, a UID column will be substituted for USERNAME),
379 PRI is the current priority of the process,
380 NICE is the nice amount (in the range \-20 to 20),
381 SIZE is the total size of the process (text, data, and stack),
382 RES is the current amount of resident memory (both SIZE and RES are
384 STATE is the current state (one of \*(lqSTART\*(rq, \*(lqRUN\*(rq
385 (shown as \*(lqCPUn\*(rq on SMP systems), \*(lqSLEEP\*(rq, \*(lqSTOP\*(rq,
386 \*(lqZOMB\*(rq, \*(lqWAIT\*(rq, \*(lqLOCK\*(rq or the event on which the
388 C is the processor number on which the process is executing
389 (visible only on SMP systems),
390 TIME is the number of system and user cpu seconds that the process has used,
391 WCPU, when displayed, is the weighted cpu percentage (this is the same
395 CPU is the raw percentage and is the field that is sorted to determine
396 the order of the processes, and
397 COMMAND is the name of the command that the process is currently running
398 (if the process is swapped out, this column is marked \*(lq<swapped>\*(rq).
400 If a process is in the \*(lqSLEEP\*(rq or \*(lqLOCK\*(rq state,
401 the state column will report the name of the event or lock on which the
403 Lock names are prefixed with an asterisk \*(lq*\*(rq while sleep events
406 William LeFebvre, EECS Department, Northwestern University
409 TOP user-configurable defaults for options.
412 /dev/kmem kernel memory
414 /dev/mem physical memory
416 /etc/passwd used to map uid numbers to user names
418 /boot/kernel/kernel system image
420 Don't shoot me, but the default for
422 has changed once again. So many people were confused by the fact that
424 wasn't showing them all the processes that I have decided to make the
425 default behavior show idle processes, just like it did in version 2.
426 But to appease folks who can't stand that behavior, I have added the
427 ability to set \*(lqdefault\*(rq options in the environment variable
429 (see the OPTIONS section). Those who want the behavior that version
430 3.0 had need only set the environment variable
434 The command name for swapped processes should be tracked down, but this
435 would make the program run slower.
439 things can change while
441 is collecting information for an update. The picture it gives is only a
442 close approximation to reality.