A Beginners Guide to ‘htop’ for Process Management

‘htop’ for Process Management – Introduction 

What is htop for Process Management? htop is an interactive process monitoring tool for Unix systems, which provides an easy-to-use and feature-rich interface for managing running processes. It is a popular alternative to the standard top utility that comes pre-installed on most Unix-like systems.

Installation of htop

htop is usually available in the official repositories of most Linux distributions. To install it on Ubuntu or Debian, you can use the following command:

sudo apt-get install htop

On CentOS, Fedora, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you can use the following command:

sudo yum install htop

Launching htop

To launch htop, simply open a terminal window and type the following command:

htop

Understanding htop Interface

htop interface is divided into multiple sections which are:

Header Section:

Displays system information like the hostname, uptime, and load average.

Menu Section:

Displays various options for sorting, filtering, and configuring htop.

Process Table Section:

Displays a list of all running processes with their respective details like PID, user, CPU%, memory usage, and command.

Sorting Processes

htop for Process Management allows you to sort the process table based on various criteria such as CPU usage, memory usage, process ID, and more. To sort the process table, you can use the following shortcuts:

F6: Sort by the selected column (use arrow keys to select the column)

F2: Setup column order and visibility

F3: Search for a process

Filtering Processes

htop also allows you to filter the process table based on various criteria such as process name, user, and more. To filter the process table, you can use the following shortcut:

F4: Filter processes (use arrow keys to select the filter criteria)

Killing Processes

htop allows you to kill processes directly from the interface. To kill a process, you can select it in the process table using the arrow keys and then press the F9 key. You will be prompted to confirm the action before the process is terminated.

Configuring htop

htop provides various options to customize its behavior, such as changing the color scheme, setting process highlighting rules, and more. To access the htop configuration menu, press the F2 key.

Exiting htop

To exit htop, simply press the Q key or use the Ctrl+C key combination.

20 ‘htop’ Command in Linux with Examples

Here are 20 ‘htop’ commands in Linux with examples:

• htop

The htop command is used to launch the htop process monitoring tool in Linux.

Example:

htop

This command will launch htop and display a live view of the system’s processes, CPU, memory usage, and other related information.

• htop -u

The htop -u command is used to filter processes by the user.

Example:

htop -u username

This command will display a list of processes running on the system that are owned by the specified user.

• htop -p

The htop -p command is used to filter processes by process ID.

Example:

htop -p pid

This command will display information about the process with the specified process ID.

• htop -s

The htop -s command is used to sort processes by various criteria, such as CPU usage, memory usage, process ID, and more.

Example:

htop -s %cpu

This command will sort the processes based on their CPU usage, with the highest CPU usage processes displayed at the top of the list.

• htop -t

The htop -t command is used to show the process tree.

Example:

htop -t

This command will display the process tree, which shows the relationship between processes and their parent processes.

• htop -d

The htop -d command is used to set the delay between updates in htop.

Example:

htop -d 5

This command will set the delay between updates in htop to 5 seconds.

• htop -C

The htop -C command is used to display full command lines for processes.

Example:

htop -C

This command will display the full command lines for each process running on the system.

• htop -H

The htop -H command is used to show individual threads.

Example:

htop -H

This command will display the individual threads that are running as part of each process.

• htop -M

The htop -M command is used to show memory usage in megabytes.

Example:

htop -M

This command will display memory usage for each process in megabytes.

• htop -y

The htop -y command is used to highlight running processes.

Example:

htop -y

This command will highlight the currently running processes in htop.

• htop -a

The htop -a command is used to show all processes, including those that are not owned by the current user.

Example:

htop -a

This command will display a list of all processes running on the system.

• htop -u -U

The htop -u -U command is used to filter processes by the user and show the user’s processes only.

Example:

htop -u user1 -U user1

This command will display a list of processes that are owned by the specified user.

• htop -t -p

The htop -t -p command is used to show the process tree for a specific process ID.

Example:

htop -t -p pid

This command will display the process tree for the process with the specified process ID.

• htop -i

The htop -i command is used to toggle the display of idle processes. By default, htop does not display idle processes, but if you use this command, it will display them.

Example:

htop -i

This command will toggle the display of idle processes in htop. If idle processes were previously hidden, they will now be displayed, and vice versa.

• htop -u -p

The htop -u -p command is used to filter processes by user and process ID.

Example:

htop -u user1 -p pid

This command will display information about the process with the specified process ID that is owned by the specified user.

• htop -p -u

The htop -p -u command is used to filter processes by process ID and user.

Example:

htop -p pid -u user1

This command will display information about the process with the specified process ID that is owned by the specified user.

• htop -p -s

The htop -p -s command is used to filter processes by process ID and sort them by various criteria.

Example:

htop -p pid -s %cpu

This command will display information about the process with the specified process ID and sort the processes based on their CPU usage.

• htop -u -s

The htop -u -s command is used to filter processes by the user and sort them by various criteria.

Example:

htop -u user1 -s %mem

This command will display a list of processes that are owned by the specified user and sort them based on their memory usage.

• htop -p -t

The htop -p -t command is used to show the process tree for a specific process ID.

Example:

htop -p pid -t

This command will display the process tree for the process with the specified process ID.

• htop -u -p -t

The htop -u -p -t command is used to filter processes by user and process ID and show the process tree for the selected process.

Example:

htop -u user1 -p pid -t

This command will display the process tree for the process with the specified process ID that is owned by the specified user.

 

Wrap Up

Now you all know what is htop for Process Management The Linux system’s htop command line utility enables users to interactively monitor the server’s or system’s critical resources in real-time. htop is a more recent application than top command and has numerous advantages over top command. Htop features color output, mouse support, and visible utilization indicators for processor, memory, and swap. Htop additionally publishes whole command lines for processes and offers vertical and horizontal command lines and process scrolling.

You can learn about linux more deeply by clicking the link below

https://linuxiron.com/what-is-linux-a-whole-introduction/

Learn about the other linux commands by clicking the links below

https://linuxiron.com/echo-command-in-linux/

https://linuxiron.com/how-to-use-nice-renice-commands-in-linux/

https://linuxiron.com/how-to-use-kill-commands-in-linux/