February 2004
Beginner
200 pages
5h 40m
English
ps | List process |
uptime | View the system load |
w | List active processes for all users |
top | Monitor resource-intensive processes interactively |
xload | Monitor system load graphically in an X window |
free | Display free memory |
A process is a unit of work on a Linux system. Each program you run represents one or more processes, and Linux provides commands for viewing and manipulating them. Every process is identified by a numeric process ID, or PID.
Processes are not the same as jobs (see Job Control): processes are part of the operating system, whereas jobs are known only to the shell in which they’re running. A running program comprises one or more processes; a job consists of one or more programs executed as a shell command.