List running processes on the system, in sorted order.
Periodically displays a list of processes on the system in sorted order. The
default key for sorting is pid, but other keys can be used instead.
Syntax
top [-a | -d | -e | -c mode]
[-F | -f]
[-h]
[-i interval]
[-k]
[-L | -l samples]
[-o key] [-O skey]
[-p format] [-P legend]
[-R | -r]
[-S]
[-s delay]
[-T | -t]
[-U user]
[-u]
[-W | -w]
[-X | -x]
[[-n] nprocs]
Options
Command line option specifications are processed from left to right. Options can be specified more than once. If conflicting options are specified, later specifications override earlier ones. This makes it viable to create a shell alias for top with preferred defaults specified, then override those preferred defaults as desired on the command line.
-c mode
Set event counting mode to mode. The supported modes are:
a Accumulative mode. Count events cumulatively, starting
at the launch of top. Calculate CPU usage and CPU time
since the launch of top.
d Delta mode. Count events relative to the previous sam-
ple. Calculate CPU usage since the previous sample.
e Absolute mode. Count events using absolute counters.
n Non-event mode (default). Calculate CPU usage since the
previous sample.
-F Do not calculate statistics on shared libraries, also known as
frameworks. This substantially reduces the amount of processor
time top consumes.
-f Calculate statistics on shared libraries, also known as frame-
works (default).
-h Print command line usage information and exit.
-i interval
Update framework (-f) info every interval samples
-L Use interactive (non-logging) mode. If not running on a termi-
nal, exit with an error rather than running in logging mode.
-l samples
Use logging mode and display samples samples, even if standard
output is a terminal. 0 is treated as infinity. Rather than
redisplaying, output is periodically printed in raw form.
-n nprocs
Only display up to nprocs processes. nprocs can be speci-
fied as the last command line argument without the -n flag pre-
ceding it. However, doing so is deprecated command line usage.
-O skey
Use skey as a secondary key when ordering the process display.
See -o for key names (pid is default).
-o key
Order the process display by sorting on key in descending or-
der. A + or - can be prefixed to the key name to specify as-
cending or descending order, respectively. The supported keys
are:
cpu CPU usage.
pid Process ID (default).
prt Number of Mach ports.
reg Number of memory regions.
rprvt Resident private address space size.
rshrd Resident shared address space size.
rsize Resident memory size.
th Number of threads.
time Execution time.
uid User ID.
username Username.
vprvt Private address space size.
vsize Total memory size.
-P legend
Set a custom legend string (containing the column headings);
this should usually be used with a custom format string.
-p format
Set a custom format string to display process info.
-R Do not traverse and report the memory object map for each process.
This substantially reduces the amount of processor time top consumes.
-r Traverse and report the memory object map for each process (de-
fault).
-S Display information about swap usage and purgeable memory.
-s delay
Set the delay between updates to delay seconds. The default
delay between updates is 1 second.
-T Do not translate uid numbers to usernames (default).
-t Translate uid numbers to usernames.
-U user
Only display processes owned by user. Either the username or
uid number can be specified.
-W Display + or - to indicate deltas (default).
-w Display delta values, rather than just + or -.
-X Run in legacy/compatibility mode.
-x Run using the nominal display format.
Deprecated_Options
-a Equivalent to -ca.
-d Equivalent to -cd.
-e Equivalent to -ce.
-k Deprecated (does nothing)
-u Equivalent to -ocpu -Otime.
Interactive (non-logging) mode
? Help
^L Redraw
ca Set accumulative mode
cd Set delta mode
ce Set event mode
cn Set non-event mode
f Toggle shared library statistics reporting.
n nprocs
Only display up to nprocs processes.
0 = infinity.
O skey
Use skey as a secondary key when ordering the process display.
See the o command for key names.
o key
Order the process display by sorting on key in descending order.
A + or - can be prefixed to the key name to specify ascending
or descending order, respectively.
The supported keys are:
command
Command name.
cpu CPU usage.
pid Process ID.
prt Number of Mach ports.
reg Number of memory regions.
rprvt Resident private address space size.
rshrd Resident shared address space size.
rsize Resident memory size.
th Number of threads.
time Execution time.
uid User ID.
username
Username.
vprvt Private address space size.
vsize Total memory size.
q Quit.
r Toggle traversal and reporting of the memory object map for each
process.
S signal pid
Send sig to pid. sig can be specified either as a number
or as a name (for example, HUP). The default signal starts out
as TERM. Each time a signal is successfully sent, the default
signal is updated to be that signal. pid is a process id.
s delay
Set the delay between updates to delay seconds.
t Toggle translation of uid numbers to usernames.
U user
Only display processes owned by user. Either the username or
uid number can be specified. To display all processes, press
enter without entering a username or uid number.
w Toggle wide/narrow delta mode.
x Toggle display formats.
Examples
Display processes sorted by CPU usage, updating every 5 seconds:
$ top -ocpu -s 5
Run top in event counter mode:
$ top -ce
Translate uid numbers to usernames and run in logging mode, taking 10
samples at 2 second intervals:
$ top -tl 10
“Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one go” - Truman Capote
Related:
top man page - Apple.com
kill - Stop a process from running
signal(3) - software signal facilities
