List processes with BSD format
Show all processes with user, CPU, memory, and command columns.
bashANYpsinspectlisting
bash
ps auxNotes
Show 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.
List processes with full format
Show all processes with PID, PPID, start time, and command.
bashANYpsinspectlisting
bash
ps -efNotes
Show all processes with PID, PPID, start time, and command.
List processes for a user
Filter processes by effective user and show full format.
bashANYpsuserfilter
bash
ps -u "$USER" -fNotes
Filter processes by effective user and show full format.
bash
ps -p 1234 -fNotes
Inspect a specific process by PID.
bash
ps -ef --forestNotes
Render a process tree using ps output.
bash
pgrep nginxNotes
Return matching PIDs for a process name pattern.
Find process by full command line
Match against the full command line and print PID plus command.
bashANYpgrepfull-commandfind
bash
pgrep -af "python.*worker"Notes
Match against the full command line and print PID plus command.
bash
pidof sshdNotes
List the PIDs of a program by executable name.
bash
pstree -apNotes
Display process hierarchy with PIDs and arguments.
bash
ps -eo pid,ppid,user,%cpu,%mem,stat,start,time,cmd --sort=-%cpuNotes
Build a custom process table and sort by CPU usage.
bash
ps -eLf | headNotes
List lightweight processes or threads.
bash
pgrep -o sshdNotes
Return the oldest matching PID.
bash
pgrep -n sshdNotes
Return the newest matching PID.
Filtering and Sorting
Focus on exactly the processes you need.
bash
ps -eo pid,comm,%cpu,%mem --sort=-%cpu | headNotes
Show the most CPU-intensive processes first.
bash
ps -eo pid,comm,%mem,rss,vsz --sort=-%mem | headNotes
Show the most memory-intensive processes first.
bash
ps -t pts/0 -fNotes
Show processes attached to a terminal.
bash
ps --ppid 1 -fNotes
List child processes of a specific parent.
bash
pgrep -u www-data nginxNotes
Limit matches to one or more users.
bash
pgrep -s 1234Notes
Match processes in a session ID.
bash
pgrep -t pts/0Notes
Match processes running on a specific terminal.
bash
ps -e -o pid,stat,cmd | awk '$2 ~ /^Z/ {print}'Notes
Find processes in a given state, here zombies.
bash
lsof -iTCP:8080 -sTCP:LISTEN -PnNotes
Identify the process bound to a TCP port.
Show process for listening sockets
List listening TCP sockets with process info.
bashANYsssocketprocess
bash
ss -lntpNotes
List listening TCP sockets with process info.
Process Control and Signals
Terminate, pause, resume, and signal processes safely.
bash
kill 1234Notes
Ask a process to terminate gracefully.
bash
kill -9 1234Notes
Immediately kill a process that is not responding.
bash
kill -HUP 1234Notes
Commonly used to ask daemons to reload configuration.
bash
kill -STOP 1234Notes
Suspend execution without terminating the process.
bash
kill -CONT 1234Notes
Resume a stopped process.
bash
pkill nginxNotes
Signal all processes whose names match a pattern.
bash
pkill -f "gunicorn: worker"Notes
Match against full command lines.
bash
pkill -u aliceNotes
Signal all processes owned by a user.
bash
killall nodeNotes
Kill all processes that match an executable name.
bash
kill -lNotes
Print known signal names and numbers.
bash
pgrep -f "celery worker" | xargs kill -TERMNotes
Signal all matching PIDs found via pgrep.
bash
fuser -k 8080/tcpNotes
Kill the process that is using a TCP port.
Priority, Scheduling, and CPU Affinity
Adjust scheduling priority and pin workloads.
bash
nice -n 10 long-running-jobNotes
Run a command with a niceness offset.
bash
renice 5 -p 1234Notes
Adjust niceness for an existing process.
bash
chrt -p 1234Notes
Inspect real-time scheduling policy and priority.
bash
sudo chrt -f -p 50 1234Notes
Assign a real-time FIFO scheduler to a process.
bash
taskset -c 0,1 myserverNotes
Pin a command to specific CPU cores.
Show or change affinity for PID
Inspect or update CPU affinity for an existing process.
bashANYtasksetcpu-affinity
bash
taskset -cp 0-3 1234Notes
Inspect or update CPU affinity for an existing process.
bash
ionice -c2 -n7 updatedbNotes
Run a command with lower I/O priority.
bash
ionice -c3 -p 1234Notes
Set idle I/O scheduling for a running process.
Set shell resource limit
Cap the number of user processes for the current shell.
bashANYulimitlimits
bash
ulimit -u 4096Notes
Cap the number of user processes for the current shell.
Backgrounding and Daemonization
Keep commands running after you disconnect or background them safely.
bash
nohup ./worker.sh > worker.log 2>&1 &Notes
Keep a process running after the shell exits.
Start in a new session
Start a process in a new session detached from the terminal.
bashANYsetsidsession
bash
setsid ./server.shNotes
Start a process in a new session detached from the terminal.
bash
screen -S myjobNotes
Use screen for a resumable terminal session.
bash
tmux new -s myjobNotes
Use tmux for persistent terminal multiplexing.
bash
timeout 30s ./script.shNotes
Terminate a command if it runs too long.
bash
time tar -czf backup.tgz /srv/dataNotes
Measure runtime of a command.
bash
watch -n 2 "ps -eo pid,comm,%cpu --sort=-%cpu | head"Notes
Re-run a command periodically for live monitoring.
More in Linux Processes
Linux systemd and Service Processes
systemd-oriented process inspection, signaling, cgroup views, transient units, and service troubleshooting.
Linux /proc and Process Debugging
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.