top.X revision 119491
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". 3.\" $FreeBSD: head/contrib/top/top.X 119491 2003-08-26 15:37:19Z eivind $ 4.nr N %topn% 5.nr D %delay% 6.TH TOP 1 Local 7.UC 4 8.SH NAME 9top \- display and update information about the top cpu processes 10.SH SYNOPSIS 11.B top 12[ 13.B \-SbiInqutv 14] [ 15.BI \-d count 16] [ 17.BI \-s time 18] [ 19.BI \-o field 20] [ 21.BI \-U username 22] [ 23.I number 24] 25.SH DESCRIPTION 26.\" This defines appropriate quote strings for nroff and troff 27.ds lq \&" 28.ds rq \&" 29.if t .ds lq `` 30.if t .ds rq '' 31.\" Just in case these number registers aren't set yet... 32.if \nN==0 .nr N 10 33.if \nD==0 .nr D 2 34.I Top 35displays the top 36.if !\nN==-1 \nN 37processes on the system and periodically updates this information. 38.if \nN==-1 \ 39\{\ 40If standard output is an intelligent terminal (see below) then 41as many processes as will fit on the terminal screen are displayed 42by default. Otherwise, a good number of them are shown (around 20). 43.\} 44Raw cpu percentage is used to rank the processes. If 45.I number 46is given, then the top 47.I number 48processes will be displayed instead of the default. 49.PP 50.I Top 51makes a distinction between terminals that support advanced capabilities 52and those that do not. This 53distinction affects the choice of defaults for certain options. In the 54remainder of this document, an \*(lqintelligent\*(rq terminal is one that 55supports cursor addressing, clear screen, and clear to end of line. 56Conversely, a \*(lqdumb\*(rq terminal is one that does not support such 57features. If the output of 58.I top 59is redirected to a file, it acts as if it were being run on a dumb 60terminal. 61.SH OPTIONS 62.TP 63.B \-S 64Show system processes in the display. Normally, system processes such as 65the pager and the swapper are not shown. This option makes them visible. 66.TP 67.B \-b 68Use \*(lqbatch\*(rq mode. In this mode, all input from the terminal is 69ignored. Interrupt characters (such as ^C and ^\e) still have an effect. 70This is the default on a dumb terminal, or when the output is not a terminal. 71.TP 72.B \-i 73Use \*(lqinteractive\*(rq mode. In this mode, any input is immediately 74read for processing. See the section on \*(lqInteractive Mode\*(rq 75for an explanation of 76which keys perform what functions. After the command is processed, the 77screen will immediately be updated, even if the command was not 78understood. This mode is the default when standard output is an 79intelligent terminal. 80.TP 81.B \-I 82Do not display idle processes. 83By default, top displays both active and idle processes. 84.TP 85.B \-t 86Do not display the 87.I top 88process. 89.TP 90.B \-n 91Use \*(lqnon-interactive\*(rq mode. This is identical to \*(lqbatch\*(rq 92mode. 93.TP 94.B \-q 95Renice 96.I top 97to -20 so that it will run faster. This can be used when the system is 98being very sluggish to improve the possibility of discovering the problem. 99This option can only be used by root. 100.TP 101.B \-u 102Do not take the time to map uid numbers to usernames. Normally, 103.I top 104will read as much of the file \*(lq/etc/passwd\*(rq as is necessary to map 105all the user id numbers it encounters into login names. This option 106disables all that, while possibly decreasing execution time. The uid 107numbers are displayed instead of the names. 108.TP 109.B \-v 110Write version number information to stderr then exit immediately. 111No other processing takes place when this option is used. To see current 112revision information while top is running, use the help command \*(lq?\*(rq. 113.TP 114.BI \-d count 115Show only 116.I count 117displays, then exit. A display is considered to be one update of the 118screen. This option allows the user to select the number of displays he 119wants to see before 120.I top 121automatically exits. For intelligent terminals, no upper limit 122is set. The default is 1 for dumb terminals. 123.TP 124.BI \-s time 125Set the delay between screen updates to 126.I time 127seconds. The default delay between updates is \nD seconds. 128.TP 129.BI \-o field 130Sort the process display area on the specified field. The field name is 131the name of the column as seen in the output, but in lower case. Likely 132values are \*(lqcpu\*(rq, \*(lqsize\*(rq, \*(lqres\*(rq, and \*(lqtime\*(rq, 133but may vary on different operating systems. Note that 134not all operating systems support this option. 135.TP 136.BI \-U username 137Show only those processes owned by 138.IR username . 139This option currently only accepts usernames and will not understand 140uid numbers. 141.PP 142Both 143.I count 144and 145.I number 146fields can be specified as \*(lqinfinite\*(rq, indicating that they can 147stretch as far as possible. This is accomplished by using any proper 148prefix of the keywords 149\*(lqinfinity\*(rq, 150\*(lqmaximum\*(rq, 151or 152\*(lqall\*(rq. 153The default for 154.I count 155on an intelligent terminal is, in fact, 156.BI infinity . 157.PP 158The environment variable 159.B TOP 160is examined for options before the command line is scanned. This enables 161a user to set his or her own defaults. The number of processes to display 162can also be specified in the environment variable 163.BR TOP . 164The options 165.BR \-I , 166.BR \-S , 167.BR \-u , 168and 169.B \-t 170are actually toggles. A second specification of any of these options 171will negate the first. Thus a user who has the environment variable 172.B TOP 173set to \*(lq\-I\*(rq may use the command \*(lqtop \-I\*(rq to see idle processes. 174.SH "INTERACTIVE MODE" 175When 176.I top 177is running in \*(lqinteractive mode\*(rq, it reads commands from the 178terminal and acts upon them accordingly. In this mode, the terminal is 179put in \*(lqCBREAK\*(rq, so that a character will be 180processed as soon as it is typed. Almost always, a key will be 181pressed when 182.I top 183is between displays; that is, while it is waiting for 184.I time 185seconds to elapse. If this is the case, the command will be 186processed and the display will be updated immediately thereafter 187(reflecting any changes that the command may have specified). This 188happens even if the command was incorrect. If a key is pressed while 189.I top 190is in the middle of updating the display, it will finish the update and 191then process the command. Some commands require additional information, 192and the user will be prompted accordingly. While typing this information 193in, the user's erase and kill keys (as set up by the command 194.IR stty ) 195are recognized, and a newline terminates the input. 196.PP 197These commands are currently recognized (^L refers to control-L): 198.TP 199.B ^L 200Redraw the screen. 201.IP "\fBh\fP\ or\ \fB?\fP" 202Display a summary of the commands (help screen). Version information 203is included in this display. 204.TP 205.B q 206Quit 207.IR top. 208.TP 209.B d 210Change the number of displays to show (prompt for new number). 211Remember that the next display counts as one, so typing 212.B d1 213will make 214.I top 215show one final display and then immediately exit. 216.TP 217.B n or # 218Change the number of processes to display (prompt for new number). 219.TP 220.B s 221Change the number of seconds to delay between displays 222(prompt for new number). 223.TP 224.B k 225Send a signal (\*(lqkill\*(rq by default) to a list of processes. This 226acts similarly to the command 227.IR kill (1)). 228.TP 229.B r 230Change the priority (the \*(lqnice\*(rq) of a list of processes. 231This acts similarly to the command 232.IR renice (8)). 233.TP 234.B u 235Display only processes owned by a specific username (prompt for username). 236If the username specified is simply \*(lq+\*(rq, then processes belonging 237to all users will be displayed. 238.TP 239.B o 240Change the order in which the display is sorted. This command is not 241available on all systems. The sort key names vary fron system to system 242but usually include: \*(lqcpu\*(rq, \*(lqres\*(rq, \*(lqsize\*(rq, 243\*(lqtime\*(rq. The default is cpu. 244.TP 245.B e 246Display a list of system errors (if any) generated by the last 247.BR k ill 248or 249.BR r enice 250command. 251.TP 252.B i 253(or 254.BR I) 255Toggle the display of idle processes. 256.TP 257.B t 258Toggle the display of the 259.I top 260process. 261.SH "THE DISPLAY" 262The actual display varies depending on the specific variant of Unix 263that the machine is running. This description may not exactly match 264what is seen by top running on this particular machine. Differences 265are listed at the end of this manual entry. 266.PP 267The top few lines of the display show general information 268about the state of the system, including 269the last process id assigned to a process (on most systems), 270the three load averages, 271the current time, 272the number of existing processes, 273the number of processes in each state 274(sleeping, running, starting, zombies, and stopped), 275and a percentage of time spent in each of the processor states 276(user, nice, system, and idle). 277It also includes information about physical and virtual memory allocation. 278.PP 279The remainder of the screen displays information about individual 280processes. This display is similar in spirit to 281.IR ps (1) 282but it is not exactly the same. PID is the process id, USERNAME is the name 283of the process's owner (if 284.B \-u 285is specified, a UID column will be substituted for USERNAME), 286PRI is the current priority of the process, 287NICE is the nice amount (in the range \-20 to 20), 288SIZE is the total size of the process (text, data, and stack), 289RES is the current amount of resident memory (both SIZE and RES are 290given in kilobytes), 291STATE is the current state (one of \*(lqsleep\*(rq, \*(lqWAIT\*(rq, 292\*(lqrun\*(rq, \*(lqidl\*(rq, \*(lqzomb\*(rq, or \*(lqstop\*(rq), 293TIME is the number of system and user cpu seconds that the process has used, 294WCPU, when displayed, is the weighted cpu percentage (this is the same 295value that 296.IR ps (1) 297displays as CPU), 298CPU is the raw percentage and is the field that is sorted to determine 299the order of the processes, and 300COMMAND is the name of the command that the process is currently running 301(if the process is swapped out, this column is marked \*(lq<swapped>\*(rq). 302.SH NOTES 303The \*(lqABANDONED\*(rq state (known in the kernel as \*(lqSWAIT\*(rq) was 304abandoned, thus the name. A process should never end up in this state. 305.SH AUTHOR 306William LeFebvre, EECS Department, Northwestern University 307.SH ENVIRONMENT 308.DT 309TOP user-configurable defaults for options. 310.SH FILES 311.DT 312/dev/kmem kernel memory 313.br 314/dev/mem physical memory 315.br 316/etc/passwd used to map uid numbers to user names 317.br 318/boot/kernel/kernel system image 319.SH BUGS 320Don't shoot me, but the default for 321.B \-I 322has changed once again. So many people were confused by the fact that 323.I top 324wasn't showing them all the processes that I have decided to make the 325default behavior show idle processes, just like it did in version 2. 326But to appease folks who can't stand that behavior, I have added the 327ability to set \*(lqdefault\*(rq options in the environment variable 328.B TOP 329(see the OPTIONS section). Those who want the behavior that version 3303.0 had need only set the environment variable 331.B TOP 332to \*(lq\-I\*(rq. 333.PP 334The command name for swapped processes should be tracked down, but this 335would make the program run slower. 336.PP 337As with 338.IR ps (1), 339things can change while 340.I top 341is collecting information for an update. The picture it gives is only a 342close approximation to reality. 343.SH "SEE ALSO" 344kill(1), 345ps(1), 346stty(1), 347mem(4), 348renice(8) 349