bashANYpsinspectlisting
bash
ps auxShow all processes with user, CPU, memory, and command columns.
Linux Processes Cheat Sheet
Comprehensive Linux process inspection, control, scheduling, and backgrounding workflows.
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Process Inspection Basics
Find, list, and summarize running processes.
bashANYpsinspectlisting
bash
ps -efShow all processes with PID, PPID, start time, and command.
bashANYpsuserfilter
bash
ps -u "$USER" -fFilter processes by effective user and show full format.
bashANYpspidfilter
bash
ps -p 1234 -fInspect a specific process by PID.
bashANYpstreehierarchy
bash
ps -ef --forestRender a process tree using ps output.
bashANYpgreppidfind
bash
pgrep nginxReturn matching PIDs for a process name pattern.
bashANYpgrepfull-commandfind
bash
pgrep -af "python.*worker"Match against the full command line and print PID plus command.
bashANYpidofpidfind
bash
pidof sshdList the PIDs of a program by executable name.
bashANYpstreetreehierarchy
bash
pstree -apDisplay process hierarchy with PIDs and arguments.
bashANYpscolumnssort
bash
ps -eo pid,ppid,user,%cpu,%mem,stat,start,time,cmd --sort=-%cpuBuild a custom process table and sort by CPU usage.
bashANYpsthreads
bash
ps -eLf | headList lightweight processes or threads.
bashANYpgrepoldest
bash
pgrep -o sshdReturn the oldest matching PID.
bashANYpgrepnewest
bash
pgrep -n sshdReturn the newest matching PID.
Filtering and Sorting
Focus on exactly the processes you need.
bashANYpssortcpu
bash
ps -eo pid,comm,%cpu,%mem --sort=-%cpu | headShow the most CPU-intensive processes first.
bashANYpssortmemory
bash
ps -eo pid,comm,%mem,rss,vsz --sort=-%mem | headShow the most memory-intensive processes first.
bashANYpsttyfilter
bash
ps -t pts/0 -fShow processes attached to a terminal.
bashANYpsppidfilter
bash
ps --ppid 1 -fList child processes of a specific parent.
bashANYpgrepuserfilter
bash
pgrep -u www-data nginxLimit matches to one or more users.
bashANYpgrepsession
bash
pgrep -s 1234Match processes in a session ID.
bashANYpgreptty
bash
pgrep -t pts/0Match processes running on a specific terminal.
bashANYpsstatezombie
bash
ps -e -o pid,stat,cmd | awk '$2 ~ /^Z/ {print}'Find processes in a given state, here zombies.
bashANYlsofportfind
bash
lsof -iTCP:8080 -sTCP:LISTEN -PnIdentify the process bound to a TCP port.
bashANYsssocketprocess
bash
ss -lntpList listening TCP sockets with process info.
Process Control and Signals
Terminate, pause, resume, and signal processes safely.
bashANYkillsignalterm
bash
kill 1234Ask a process to terminate gracefully.
bashANYkillsignalsigkill
bash
kill -9 1234Immediately kill a process that is not responding.
bashANYkillsignalreload
bash
kill -HUP 1234Commonly used to ask daemons to reload configuration.
bashANYkillsignalstop
bash
kill -STOP 1234Suspend execution without terminating the process.
bashANYkillsignalcontinue
bash
kill -CONT 1234Resume a stopped process.
bashANYpkillsignalname
bash
pkill nginxSignal all processes whose names match a pattern.
bashANYpkillsignalfull-command
bash
pkill -f "gunicorn: worker"Match against full command lines.
bashANYpkillusersignal
bash
pkill -u aliceSignal all processes owned by a user.
bashANYkillallsignal
bash
killall nodeKill all processes that match an executable name.
bashANYkillsignalsreference
bash
kill -lPrint known signal names and numbers.
bashANYpgrepxargskill
bash
pgrep -f "celery worker" | xargs kill -TERMSignal all matching PIDs found via pgrep.
bashANYfuserportkill
bash
fuser -k 8080/tcpKill the process that is using a TCP port.
Priority, Scheduling, and CPU Affinity
Adjust scheduling priority and pin workloads.
bashANYnicepriority
bash
nice -n 10 long-running-jobRun a command with a niceness offset.
bashANYrenicepriority
bash
renice 5 -p 1234Adjust niceness for an existing process.
bashANYchrtscheduler
bash
chrt -p 1234Inspect real-time scheduling policy and priority.
bashANYchrtschedulerrealtime
bash
sudo chrt -f -p 50 1234Assign a real-time FIFO scheduler to a process.
bashANYtasksetcpu-affinity
bash
taskset -c 0,1 myserverPin a command to specific CPU cores.
bashANYtasksetcpu-affinity
bash
taskset -cp 0-3 1234Inspect or update CPU affinity for an existing process.
bashANYioniceio-priority
bash
ionice -c2 -n7 updatedbRun a command with lower I/O priority.
bashANYioniceio-priority
bash
ionice -c3 -p 1234Set idle I/O scheduling for a running process.
bashANYulimitlimits
bash
ulimit -u 4096Cap the number of user processes for the current shell.
Backgrounding and Daemonization
Keep commands running after you disconnect or background them safely.
bashANYnohupbackground
bash
nohup ./worker.sh > worker.log 2>&1 &Keep a process running after the shell exits.
bashANYsetsidsession
bash
setsid ./server.shStart a process in a new session detached from the terminal.
bashANYscreenbackground
bash
screen -S myjobUse screen for a resumable terminal session.
bashANYtmuxbackground
bash
tmux new -s myjobUse tmux for persistent terminal multiplexing.
bashANYtimeoutcontrol
bash
timeout 30s ./script.shTerminate a command if it runs too long.
bashANYtimemeasurement
bash
time tar -czf backup.tgz /srv/dataMeasure runtime of a command.
bashANYwatchmonitoring
bash
watch -n 2 "ps -eo pid,comm,%cpu --sort=-%cpu | head"Re-run a command periodically for live monitoring.
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Low-level Linux process inspection with /proc, syscall tracing, profilers, debuggers, and core dumps.
Linux Signals and Job Control
Linux signals, process groups, shell job control, and safe batch-termination patterns.
Linux Process Monitoring
Interactive and sampled monitoring for Linux processes, threads, memory, sockets, and scheduler behavior.