Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition

Name

nice

Synopsis

nice [option] [command [arguments]]

Execute a command (with its arguments) with lower priority (i.e., be “nice” to other users). With no command, nice prints the current scheduling priority (niceness). If nice is a child process, it prints the parent process’s scheduling priority. Niceness has a range of −20 (highest priority) to 19 (lowest priority).

Options

--help

Print a help message and then exit.

-n adjustment, -adjustment, --adjustment=adjustment

Run command with niceness incremented by adjustment (1–19); default is 10. A privileged user can raise the priority by specifying a negative adjustment (e.g., −5).

--version

Print version information and then exit.