User Commands TOP(1)
NAME
top - display and update information about the top cpu
processes
SYNOPSIS
top [ -CISTabcinqtuv ] [ -dcount ] [ -mmode ] [ -ofield ] [
-stime ] [ -Uusername ] [ number ]
DESCRIPTION
Top displays the top 30 processes on the system and periodi-
cally updates this information. Raw cpu percentage is used
to rank the processes. If number is given, then the top
number processes will be displayed instead of the default.
Top makes a distinction between terminals that support
advanced capabilities and those that do not. This distinc-
tion affects the choice of defaults for certain options. In
the remainder of this document, an "intelligent" terminal is
one that supports cursor addressing, clear screen, and clear
to end of line. Conversely, a "dumb" terminal is one that
does not support such features. If the output of top is
redirected to a file, it acts as if it were being run on a
dumb terminal.
OPTIONS
-C, --color
Turn off the use of color in the display.
-I, --idle-procs
Do not display idle processes. By default, top
displays both active and idle processes.
-S, --system-procs
Show system processes in the display. Normally, system
processes such as the pager and the swapper are not
shown. This option makes them visible.
-T, --tag-names
List all available color tags and the current set of
tests used for color highlighting, then exit.
-a, --all
Show all processes for as long as possible. This is
shorthand for "-d all all". This option is especially
handy in batch mode.
-b, -n, --batch
Use "batch" mode. In this mode, all input from the
terminal is ignored. Interrupt characters (such as ^C
and ^\) still have an effect. This is the default on a
dumb terminal, or when the output is not a terminal.
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-c, --full-commands
Show the full command line for each process. Default is
to show just the command name. This option is not sup-
ported on all platforms.
-i, --interactive
Use "interactive" mode. In this mode, any input is
immediately read for processing. See the section on
"Interactive Mode" for an explanation of which keys
perform what functions. After the command is pro-
cessed, the screen will immediately be updated, even if
the command was not understood. This mode is the
default when standard output is an intelligent termi-
nal.
-q, --quick
Renice top to -20 so that it will run faster. This can
be used when the system is being very sluggish to
improve the possibility of discovering the problem.
This option can only be used by root.
-t, --threads
Show individual threads on separate lines. By default,
on systems which support threading, each process is
shown with a count of the number of threads. This
option shows each thread on a separate line. This
option is not supported on all platforms.
-u, --uids
Do not take the time to map uid numbers to usernames.
Normally, top will read as much of the file
"/etc/passwd" as is necessary to map all the user id
numbers it encounters into login names. This option
disables all that, while possibly decreasing execution
time. The uid numbers are displayed instead of the
names.
-v, --version
Write version number information to stderr then exit
immediately. No other processing takes place when this
option is used. To see current revision information
while top is running, use the help command "?".
-d count, --displays count
Show only count displays, then exit. A display is con-
sidered to be one update of the screen. This option
allows the user to select the number of displays he
wants to see before top automatically exits. Any
proper prefix of the words "infinity", "maximum", or
"all" can be used to indicate an infinite number of
displays. The default for intelligent terminals is
infinity. The default for dumb terminals is 1.
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-m mode, --mode=mode
Start the display in an alternate mode. Some platforms
support multiple process displays to show additional
process information. The value mode is a number indi-
cating which mode to display. The default is 0. On
platforms that do not have multiple display modes this
option has no effect.
-o field, --sort-order=field
Sort the process display area on the specified field.
The field name is the name of the column as seen in the
output, but in lower case. Likely values are "cpu",
"size", "res", and "time", but may vary on different
operating systems. Note that not all operating systems
support this option.
-s time, --delay=time
Set the delay between screen updates to time seconds.
The default delay between updates is 5 seconds.
-U username, --user=username
Show only those processes owned by username. This
option currently only accepts usernames and will not
understand uid numbers.
Both count and number fields can be specified as "infinite",
indicating that they can stretch as far as possible. This
is accomplished by using any proper prefix of the keywords
"infinity", "maximum", or "all". The default for count on
an intelligent terminal is, in fact, infinity.
The environment variable TOP is examined for options before
the command line is scanned. This enables a user to set his
or her own defaults. The number of processes to display can
also be specified in the environment variable TOP. The
options -C, -I, -S, and -u are actually toggles. A second
specification of any of these options will negate the first.
Thus a user who has the environment variable TOP set to "-I"
may use the command "top -I" to see idle processes.
INTERACTIVE MODE
When top is running in "interactive mode", it reads commands
from the terminal and acts upon them accordingly. In this
mode, the terminal is put in "CBREAK", so that a character
will be processed as soon as it is typed. Almost always, a
key will be pressed when top is between displays; that is,
while it is waiting for time seconds to elapse. If this is
the case, the command will be processed and the display will
be updated immediately thereafter (reflecting any changes
that the command may have specified). This happens even if
the command was incorrect. If a key is pressed while top is
in the middle of updating the display, it will finish the
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update and then process the command. Some commands require
additional information, and the user will be prompted
accordingly. While typing this information in, the user's
erase and kill keys (as set up by the command stty) are
recognized, and a newline terminates the input. Note that a
control-L (^L) always redraws the current screen and a space
forces an immediate update to the screen using new data.
These commands are currently recognized:
h or ?
Display a summary of the commands (help screen). Ver-
sion information is included in this display.
C Toggle the use of color in the display.
c Display only processes whose commands match the speci-
fied string. An empty string will display all
processes. This command is not supported on all plat-
forms.
d Change the number of displays to show (prompt for new
number). Remember that the next display counts as one,
so typing d1 will make top show one final display and
then immediately exit.
f Toggle the display of the full command line.
H Toggle the display of threads on separate lines. By
default, on systems which support threading, each pro-
cess is shown with a count of the number of threads.
This command shows each thread on a separate line.
This command is not supported on all platforms.
i (or I) Toggle the display of idle processes.
k Send a signal ("kill" by default) to a list of
processes. This acts similarly to the command
kill(1)).
M Sort display by memory usage. Shorthand for "o size".
m Change to a different process display mode. Some sys-
tems provide multiple display modes for the process
display which shows different information. This com-
mand toggles between the available modes. This command
is not supported on all platforms.
N Sort by process id. Shorthand for "o pid".
n or #
Change the number of processes to display (prompt for
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new number).
o Change the order in which the display is sorted. This
command is not available on all systems. The sort key
names vary fron system to system but usually include:
"cpu", "res", "size", "time". The default is cpu.
P Sort by CPU usage. Shorthand for "o cpu".
q Quit top.
r Change the priority (the "nice") of a list of
processes. This acts similarly to the command ren-
ice(8)).
s Change the number of seconds to delay between displays
(prompt for new number).
T Sort by CPU time. Shorthand for "o time".
U Toggle between displaying usernames and uids.
u Display only processes owned by a specific username
(prompt for username). If the username specified is
simply "]", then processes belonging to all users will
be displayed.
THE DISPLAY
The actual display varies depending on the specific variant
of Unix that the machine is running. This description may
not exactly match what is seen by top running on this par-
ticular machine. Differences are listed at the end of this
manual entry.
The top lines of the display show general information about
the state of the system. The first line shows (on some sys-
tems) the last process id assigned to a process, the three
load averages, the system uptime, and the current time. The
second line displays the total number of processes followed
by a breakdown of processes per state. Examples of states
common to Unix systems are sleeping, running, starting,
stopped, and zombie. The next line displays a percentage of
time spent in each of the processor states (typically user,
nice, system, idle, and iowait). These percentages show the
processor activity during the time since the last update.
For multi-processor systems, this information is a summation
of time across all processors. The next line shows kernel-
related activity (not available on all systems). The
numbers shown on this line are per-second rates sampled
since the last update. The exact information displayed
varies between systems, but some examples are: context
switches, interrupts, traps, forks, and page faults. The
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last one or two lines show a summary of memory and swap
activity. These lines vary between systems.
The remainder of the screen displays information about indi-
vidual processes. This display is similar in spirit to
ps(1) but it is not exactly the same. The columns displayed
by top will differ slightly between operating systems. Gen-
erally, the following fields are displayed:
PID The process id.
USERNAME
Username of the process's owner (if -u is specified, a
UID column will be substituted for USERNAME).
THR The number of threads in the processes (this column may
also be labeled NLWP).
PRI Current priority of the process.
NICE Nice amount in the range -20 to 20, as established by
the use of the command nice.
SIZE Total size of the process (text, data, and stack) given
in kilobytes.
RES Resident memory: current amount of process memory that
resides in physical memory, given in kilobytes.
STATE
Current state (typically one of "sleep", "run", "idl",
"zomb", or "stop").
TIME Number of system and user cpu seconds that the process
has used.
CPU Percentage of available cpu time used by this process.
COMAND
Name of the command that the process is currently run-
ning.
COLOR
Top supports the use of ANSI color in its output. By
default, color is available but not used. The environment
variable TOPCOLORS specifies colors to use and conditions
for which they should be used. At the present time, only
numbers in the summay display area can be colored. In a
future version it will be possible to highlight numbers in
the process display area as well. The environment variable
is the only way to specify color: there is no equivalent
command line option. Note that the environment variable
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TOPCOLOURS is also understood. The British spelling takes
precedence. The use of color only works on terminals that
understand and process ANSI color escape sequences.
The environment variable is a sequence of color specifica-
tions, separated by colons. Each specification takes the
form tag=min,max#code where tag is the name of the value to
check, min and max specify a range for the value, and code
is an ANSI color code. Multiple color codes can be listed
and separated with semi-colons. A missing min implies the
lowest possible value (usually 0) and a missing max implies
infinity. The comma must always be present. When specifying
numbers for load averages, they should be multiplied by 100.
For example, the specification 1min=500,1000#31 indicates
that a 1 minute load average between 5 and 10 should be
displayed in red. Color attributes can be combined. For
example, the specification 5min=1000,#37;41 indicates that a
5 minute load average higher than 10 should be displayed
with white characters on a red background. A special tag
named header is used to control the color of the header for
process display. It should be specified with no lower and
upper limits, specifically header=,# followed by the ANSI
color code.
You can see a list of color codes recognized by this instal-
lation of top with the -T option. This will also show the
current set of tests used for color highligting, as speci-
fied in the environment.
AUTHOR
William LeFebvre
ENVIRONMENT
TOP user-configurable defaults for options.
TOPCOLORS color specification
BUGS
As with ps(1), things can change while top is collecting
information for an update. The picture it gives is only a
close approximation to reality.
SEE ALSO
kill(1), ps(1), stty(1), mem(4), renice(8)
SUNOS 5 NOTES
CPU percentage is calculated as a fraction of total avail-
able computing resources. Hence on a multiprocessor machine
a single threaded process can never consume cpu time in
excess of 1 divided by the number of processors. For exam-
ple, on a 4 processor machine, a single threaded process
will never show a cpu percentage higher than 25%. The CPU
percentage column will always total approximately 100,
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User Commands TOP(1)
regardless of the number of processors.
The kernel summary line shows the following information, all
displayed as a per-second rate:
ctxsw Context switches.
trap Number of traps.
intr Number of interrupts.
syscall Number of system calls.
fork Number of forks and vforks.
flt Number of page faults.
pgin Number of kilobytes paged in to physical memory.
pgout Number of kilobytes paged out from physical memory.
The memory summary line displays the following:
phys mem Total amount of physical memory that can be
allocated for use by processes (it does not
include memory reserved for the kernel's use).
free mem The amount of unallocated physical memory.
total swap The total amount of swap area allocated on
disk.
free swap The amount of swap area on disk that is still
available.
Unlike previous versions of top, the swap figures will
differ from the summary output of swap(1M) since the latter
includes physical memory as well.
The column NLWP indicates the number of lightweight
processes in a process. This usually corresponds to the
number of threads in that process.
The display of individual threads can be toggled with the
synonymous commands t and H. Information about state,
priority, CPU time and percent CPU are shown for each indi-
vidual thread. Other information is identical for all
threads in the same process. In this display the column LWP
replaces NLWP and shows the lightweight process id. The
column names LWP and NLWP are consistent with ps(1).
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In BSD Unix, process priority was represented internally as
a signed offset from a zero value with an unsigned value.
The "zero" value was usually something like 20, allowing for
a range of priorities from -20 to 20. As implemented on
SunOS 5, older versions of top continued to interpret pro-
cess priority in this manner, even though it was no longer
correct. Starting with top version 3.5, this was changed to
agree with the rest of the system.
Long options are not currently available in Solaris.
The SunOS 5 (Solaris 2) port was originally written by
Torsten Kasch, . Many
contributions have been provided by Casper Dik
. Support for multi-cpu, calculation of
CPU% and memory stats provided by Robert Boucher
, Marc Cohen , Charles
Hedrick , and William L. Jones
.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1984-2007 William LeFebvre. For additional
licensing information, see http:/www.unixtop.org/license/
ATRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
ATRIBUTE TYPE ATRIBUTE VALUE
Availability SUNWtop
Interface Stability Uncommitted
NOTES
Source for top is available from
http:/www.opensolaris.org/.
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