How to view a specific process in top












37















Are there any relatively strightforward options with top to track a specific process?

Ideally by identifying the process by a human readable value? e.g. chrome or java.



In other words, I want to view all the typical information top provides, but for the results to be filtered to the parameters provided i.e.. 'chrome' or 'java'






process top







share|improve this question




















  • 1





    have you tried top | grep chrome?

    – Pandya
    Oct 31 '14 at 10:59






  • 1





    you can also use ps -x | chrome to get pid (let pid shown 2034) and then top | grep 2034

    – Pandya
    Oct 31 '14 at 11:02













  • top | grep chrome worked perfectly - thanks!

    – Michael Coleman
    Oct 31 '14 at 11:05











  • @Pandya - also, the process I was looking for only ran for a few seconds (node.js during an integration test) - which meant when I used ps -x | process_name to get the PID, when I ran the process again the PID was different and therefore the original PID wouldn't identify it.

    – Michael Coleman
    Oct 31 '14 at 11:15
















37















Are there any relatively strightforward options with top to track a specific process?

Ideally by identifying the process by a human readable value? e.g. chrome or java.



In other words, I want to view all the typical information top provides, but for the results to be filtered to the parameters provided i.e.. 'chrome' or 'java'






process top







share|improve this question




















  • 1





    have you tried top | grep chrome?

    – Pandya
    Oct 31 '14 at 10:59






  • 1





    you can also use ps -x | chrome to get pid (let pid shown 2034) and then top | grep 2034

    – Pandya
    Oct 31 '14 at 11:02













  • top | grep chrome worked perfectly - thanks!

    – Michael Coleman
    Oct 31 '14 at 11:05











  • @Pandya - also, the process I was looking for only ran for a few seconds (node.js during an integration test) - which meant when I used ps -x | process_name to get the PID, when I ran the process again the PID was different and therefore the original PID wouldn't identify it.

    – Michael Coleman
    Oct 31 '14 at 11:15














37












37








37


9






Are there any relatively strightforward options with top to track a specific process?

Ideally by identifying the process by a human readable value? e.g. chrome or java.



In other words, I want to view all the typical information top provides, but for the results to be filtered to the parameters provided i.e.. 'chrome' or 'java'






process top







share|improve this question
















Are there any relatively strightforward options with top to track a specific process?

Ideally by identifying the process by a human readable value? e.g. chrome or java.



In other words, I want to view all the typical information top provides, but for the results to be filtered to the parameters provided i.e.. 'chrome' or 'java'






process top




process top






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Oct 31 '14 at 23:12









Gilles

536k12810821600




536k12810821600










asked Oct 31 '14 at 10:43









Michael ColemanMichael Coleman

297136




297136








  • 1





    have you tried top | grep chrome?

    – Pandya
    Oct 31 '14 at 10:59






  • 1





    you can also use ps -x | chrome to get pid (let pid shown 2034) and then top | grep 2034

    – Pandya
    Oct 31 '14 at 11:02













  • top | grep chrome worked perfectly - thanks!

    – Michael Coleman
    Oct 31 '14 at 11:05











  • @Pandya - also, the process I was looking for only ran for a few seconds (node.js during an integration test) - which meant when I used ps -x | process_name to get the PID, when I ran the process again the PID was different and therefore the original PID wouldn't identify it.

    – Michael Coleman
    Oct 31 '14 at 11:15














  • 1





    have you tried top | grep chrome?

    – Pandya
    Oct 31 '14 at 10:59






  • 1





    you can also use ps -x | chrome to get pid (let pid shown 2034) and then top | grep 2034

    – Pandya
    Oct 31 '14 at 11:02













  • top | grep chrome worked perfectly - thanks!

    – Michael Coleman
    Oct 31 '14 at 11:05











  • @Pandya - also, the process I was looking for only ran for a few seconds (node.js during an integration test) - which meant when I used ps -x | process_name to get the PID, when I ran the process again the PID was different and therefore the original PID wouldn't identify it.

    – Michael Coleman
    Oct 31 '14 at 11:15








1




1





have you tried top | grep chrome?

– Pandya
Oct 31 '14 at 10:59





have you tried top | grep chrome?

– Pandya
Oct 31 '14 at 10:59




1




1





you can also use ps -x | chrome to get pid (let pid shown 2034) and then top | grep 2034

– Pandya
Oct 31 '14 at 11:02







you can also use ps -x | chrome to get pid (let pid shown 2034) and then top | grep 2034

– Pandya
Oct 31 '14 at 11:02















top | grep chrome worked perfectly - thanks!

– Michael Coleman
Oct 31 '14 at 11:05





top | grep chrome worked perfectly - thanks!

– Michael Coleman
Oct 31 '14 at 11:05













@Pandya - also, the process I was looking for only ran for a few seconds (node.js during an integration test) - which meant when I used ps -x | process_name to get the PID, when I ran the process again the PID was different and therefore the original PID wouldn't identify it.

– Michael Coleman
Oct 31 '14 at 11:15





@Pandya - also, the process I was looking for only ran for a few seconds (node.js during an integration test) - which meant when I used ps -x | process_name to get the PID, when I ran the process again the PID was different and therefore the original PID wouldn't identify it.

– Michael Coleman
Oct 31 '14 at 11:15










6 Answers
6






active

oldest

votes


















12














You can simply use grep:



NAME

       grep, egrep, fgrep, rgrep - print lines matching a pattern



SYNOPSIS

       grep [OPTIONS] PATTERN [FILE...]

       grep [OPTIONS] [-e PATTERN | -f FILE] [FILE...]



DESCRIPTION

       grep  searches  the  named  input  FILEs (or standard input if no files are named, or if a single

       hyphen-minus (-) is given as file name) for lines containing a match to the  given  PATTERN.   By

       default, grep prints the matching lines.


Run following command to get output which you want (ex-chrome):



top | grep chrome


Here we are using grep with pipelines | so top & grep run parallel ; top output given to grep (as input) and grep chrome filters matching lines chrome until top stopped.






share|improve this answer



















  • 1





    thanks, I know other people have their preferences, but I like this answer because it is easy to understand, and therefore its easier to remember in the future too! - I would have upvoted but I dont have enough reputation...

    – Michael Coleman
    Nov 1 '14 at 16:11













  • This only works if the process is in top's displayed output. I think @Ramesh's answer should be the accepted one

    – j b
    Aug 11 '17 at 12:18











  • @JamieBullock the question deals with top only and OP want to filter process based on top.

    – Pandya
    Aug 11 '17 at 13:26











  • @Pandya actually, I withdraw my previous comment as it was based on a mistake in my code. Still I think @Ramesh's answer is better (and also filters process based on top). I can easily break yours e.g. with sleep 10 & top | grep sleep

    – j b
    Aug 11 '17 at 13:41











  • I like unix.stackexchange.com/a/165343/48973 better because it shows the headers.

    – Ryan
    Jul 14 '18 at 17:12



















34














From my other answer here, you could do something like,



top -p `pgrep "java"`





share|improve this answer





















  • 3





    top -p `pgrep "java"` gives me the following error in a bash shell top: -p requires argument . top -p pgrep -d ',' "apache2" did work for me, but I didn't really understand what the command was doing - is it way of feeding in multiple arguments to top?

    – Michael Coleman
    Nov 1 '14 at 8:33













  • @Ramesh you need to give the pid list comma separated to work.

    – Kannan Mohan
    Nov 1 '14 at 13:33






  • 2





    This is the right answer.

    – j03m
    Aug 8 '16 at 13:51






  • 1





    +1 This is the correct answer. "top | grep Chrome" is rather barbaric, because it greps-away ALL OF THE OUTPUT from top not matching "Chrome," losing stuff like the header and column labels. Using a subshell with the output from pgrep is a correct application of the unix philosophy.

    – John M Naglick
    Jan 25 '17 at 16:36








  • 1





    @loretoparisi that may be because the selector you are using matches multiple processes. See this answer for a command that works with one or more matching processes.

    – Michael Hays
    Nov 25 '18 at 15:28



















16














top -p `pgrep -d "," java`


Explanation:





  1. top -p pid1,pid2: show multiple process information, the pid should be separated by ,


  2. pgrep -d "," java: print the pids of all java program, the pids are separated by a newline by default. use the -d "," to separate it by , as required by the top.


If you see error like top: -p argument missing, it means no java program is running, i.e. the pgrep has no output.






share|improve this answer





















  • 1





    This solution works better than using top -p pgrep "java"`` only. thank you.

    – loretoparisi
    Sep 24 '18 at 8:26






  • 1





    Prevent the error by checking pgrep's exit code : pids="$(pgrep -d, java)" && top -p "$pids"

    – syme
    Nov 30 '18 at 16:42



















9














In OpenBSD top, just press g and enter the command name you'd like to filter on.



In top on e.g. Ubuntu, press o and enter e.g. COMMAND=chrome to only show entries from the COMMAND column that are equal to chrome.



On Linuxes that uses the same top implementation as Ubuntu, read the FILTERING in a Window section in the top manual.






share|improve this answer































    7














    Other good answers have been provided, but I made a script some time ago, which I named ptop, that serves me well:



    #!/bin/sh
    
top -p $(pidof "$@" |sed s# #,#g) 2>/dev/null
    
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    
  echo No processes with the specified name(s) were found
    
fi


    This supports multiple process names to be specified (like ptop bash chrome) and provides a nicer error message in case there is/are no processes with any of the specified names running.






    share|improve this answer

































      2














      If you want to stay in top and keep all other processes in view for context, you can press L to search for your process:



      Locate string chrome


      This will highlight any process with chrome in the name, and bring it into view. Use & to go to the next match.



      You can press c to switch between showing the process name and the full command.






      share|improve this answer


























      • This ^ because RTFM people! man top | less +/5d

        – cprn
        Oct 26 '18 at 14:09











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      6 Answers
      6






      active

      oldest

      votes








      6 Answers
      6






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes









      12














      You can simply use grep:



      NAME
      
       grep, egrep, fgrep, rgrep - print lines matching a pattern
      

      
SYNOPSIS
      
       grep [OPTIONS] PATTERN [FILE...]
      
       grep [OPTIONS] [-e PATTERN | -f FILE] [FILE...]
      

      
DESCRIPTION
      
       grep  searches  the  named  input  FILEs (or standard input if no files are named, or if a single
      
       hyphen-minus (-) is given as file name) for lines containing a match to the  given  PATTERN.   By
      
       default, grep prints the matching lines.


      Run following command to get output which you want (ex-chrome):



      top | grep chrome


      Here we are using grep with pipelines | so top & grep run parallel ; top output given to grep (as input) and grep chrome filters matching lines chrome until top stopped.






      share|improve this answer



















      • 1





        thanks, I know other people have their preferences, but I like this answer because it is easy to understand, and therefore its easier to remember in the future too! - I would have upvoted but I dont have enough reputation...

        – Michael Coleman
        Nov 1 '14 at 16:11













      • This only works if the process is in top's displayed output. I think @Ramesh's answer should be the accepted one

        – j b
        Aug 11 '17 at 12:18











      • @JamieBullock the question deals with top only and OP want to filter process based on top.

        – Pandya
        Aug 11 '17 at 13:26











      • @Pandya actually, I withdraw my previous comment as it was based on a mistake in my code. Still I think @Ramesh's answer is better (and also filters process based on top). I can easily break yours e.g. with sleep 10 & top | grep sleep

        – j b
        Aug 11 '17 at 13:41











      • I like unix.stackexchange.com/a/165343/48973 better because it shows the headers.

        – Ryan
        Jul 14 '18 at 17:12
















      12














      You can simply use grep:



      NAME
      
       grep, egrep, fgrep, rgrep - print lines matching a pattern
      

      
SYNOPSIS
      
       grep [OPTIONS] PATTERN [FILE...]
      
       grep [OPTIONS] [-e PATTERN | -f FILE] [FILE...]
      

      
DESCRIPTION
      
       grep  searches  the  named  input  FILEs (or standard input if no files are named, or if a single
      
       hyphen-minus (-) is given as file name) for lines containing a match to the  given  PATTERN.   By
      
       default, grep prints the matching lines.


      Run following command to get output which you want (ex-chrome):



      top | grep chrome


      Here we are using grep with pipelines | so top & grep run parallel ; top output given to grep (as input) and grep chrome filters matching lines chrome until top stopped.






      share|improve this answer



















      • 1





        thanks, I know other people have their preferences, but I like this answer because it is easy to understand, and therefore its easier to remember in the future too! - I would have upvoted but I dont have enough reputation...

        – Michael Coleman
        Nov 1 '14 at 16:11













      • This only works if the process is in top's displayed output. I think @Ramesh's answer should be the accepted one

        – j b
        Aug 11 '17 at 12:18











      • @JamieBullock the question deals with top only and OP want to filter process based on top.

        – Pandya
        Aug 11 '17 at 13:26











      • @Pandya actually, I withdraw my previous comment as it was based on a mistake in my code. Still I think @Ramesh's answer is better (and also filters process based on top). I can easily break yours e.g. with sleep 10 & top | grep sleep

        – j b
        Aug 11 '17 at 13:41











      • I like unix.stackexchange.com/a/165343/48973 better because it shows the headers.

        – Ryan
        Jul 14 '18 at 17:12














      12












      12








      12







      You can simply use grep:



      NAME
      
       grep, egrep, fgrep, rgrep - print lines matching a pattern
      

      
SYNOPSIS
      
       grep [OPTIONS] PATTERN [FILE...]
      
       grep [OPTIONS] [-e PATTERN | -f FILE] [FILE...]
      

      
DESCRIPTION
      
       grep  searches  the  named  input  FILEs (or standard input if no files are named, or if a single
      
       hyphen-minus (-) is given as file name) for lines containing a match to the  given  PATTERN.   By
      
       default, grep prints the matching lines.


      Run following command to get output which you want (ex-chrome):



      top | grep chrome


      Here we are using grep with pipelines | so top & grep run parallel ; top output given to grep (as input) and grep chrome filters matching lines chrome until top stopped.






      share|improve this answer













      You can simply use grep:



      NAME
      
       grep, egrep, fgrep, rgrep - print lines matching a pattern
      

      
SYNOPSIS
      
       grep [OPTIONS] PATTERN [FILE...]
      
       grep [OPTIONS] [-e PATTERN | -f FILE] [FILE...]
      

      
DESCRIPTION
      
       grep  searches  the  named  input  FILEs (or standard input if no files are named, or if a single
      
       hyphen-minus (-) is given as file name) for lines containing a match to the  given  PATTERN.   By
      
       default, grep prints the matching lines.


      Run following command to get output which you want (ex-chrome):



      top | grep chrome


      Here we are using grep with pipelines | so top & grep run parallel ; top output given to grep (as input) and grep chrome filters matching lines chrome until top stopped.







      share|improve this answer












      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer










      answered Nov 1 '14 at 9:57









      PandyaPandya

      8,7741552104




      8,7741552104








      • 1





        thanks, I know other people have their preferences, but I like this answer because it is easy to understand, and therefore its easier to remember in the future too! - I would have upvoted but I dont have enough reputation...

        – Michael Coleman
        Nov 1 '14 at 16:11













      • This only works if the process is in top's displayed output. I think @Ramesh's answer should be the accepted one

        – j b
        Aug 11 '17 at 12:18











      • @JamieBullock the question deals with top only and OP want to filter process based on top.

        – Pandya
        Aug 11 '17 at 13:26











      • @Pandya actually, I withdraw my previous comment as it was based on a mistake in my code. Still I think @Ramesh's answer is better (and also filters process based on top). I can easily break yours e.g. with sleep 10 & top | grep sleep

        – j b
        Aug 11 '17 at 13:41











      • I like unix.stackexchange.com/a/165343/48973 better because it shows the headers.

        – Ryan
        Jul 14 '18 at 17:12














      • 1





        thanks, I know other people have their preferences, but I like this answer because it is easy to understand, and therefore its easier to remember in the future too! - I would have upvoted but I dont have enough reputation...

        – Michael Coleman
        Nov 1 '14 at 16:11













      • This only works if the process is in top's displayed output. I think @Ramesh's answer should be the accepted one

        – j b
        Aug 11 '17 at 12:18











      • @JamieBullock the question deals with top only and OP want to filter process based on top.

        – Pandya
        Aug 11 '17 at 13:26











      • @Pandya actually, I withdraw my previous comment as it was based on a mistake in my code. Still I think @Ramesh's answer is better (and also filters process based on top). I can easily break yours e.g. with sleep 10 & top | grep sleep

        – j b
        Aug 11 '17 at 13:41











      • I like unix.stackexchange.com/a/165343/48973 better because it shows the headers.

        – Ryan
        Jul 14 '18 at 17:12








      1




      1





      thanks, I know other people have their preferences, but I like this answer because it is easy to understand, and therefore its easier to remember in the future too! - I would have upvoted but I dont have enough reputation...

      – Michael Coleman
      Nov 1 '14 at 16:11







      thanks, I know other people have their preferences, but I like this answer because it is easy to understand, and therefore its easier to remember in the future too! - I would have upvoted but I dont have enough reputation...

      – Michael Coleman
      Nov 1 '14 at 16:11















      This only works if the process is in top's displayed output. I think @Ramesh's answer should be the accepted one

      – j b
      Aug 11 '17 at 12:18





      This only works if the process is in top's displayed output. I think @Ramesh's answer should be the accepted one

      – j b
      Aug 11 '17 at 12:18













      @JamieBullock the question deals with top only and OP want to filter process based on top.

      – Pandya
      Aug 11 '17 at 13:26





      @JamieBullock the question deals with top only and OP want to filter process based on top.

      – Pandya
      Aug 11 '17 at 13:26













      @Pandya actually, I withdraw my previous comment as it was based on a mistake in my code. Still I think @Ramesh's answer is better (and also filters process based on top). I can easily break yours e.g. with sleep 10 & top | grep sleep

      – j b
      Aug 11 '17 at 13:41





      @Pandya actually, I withdraw my previous comment as it was based on a mistake in my code. Still I think @Ramesh's answer is better (and also filters process based on top). I can easily break yours e.g. with sleep 10 & top | grep sleep

      – j b
      Aug 11 '17 at 13:41













      I like unix.stackexchange.com/a/165343/48973 better because it shows the headers.

      – Ryan
      Jul 14 '18 at 17:12





      I like unix.stackexchange.com/a/165343/48973 better because it shows the headers.

      – Ryan
      Jul 14 '18 at 17:12













      34














      From my other answer here, you could do something like,



      top -p `pgrep "java"`





      share|improve this answer





















      • 3





        top -p `pgrep "java"` gives me the following error in a bash shell top: -p requires argument . top -p pgrep -d ',' "apache2" did work for me, but I didn't really understand what the command was doing - is it way of feeding in multiple arguments to top?

        – Michael Coleman
        Nov 1 '14 at 8:33













      • @Ramesh you need to give the pid list comma separated to work.

        – Kannan Mohan
        Nov 1 '14 at 13:33






      • 2





        This is the right answer.

        – j03m
        Aug 8 '16 at 13:51






      • 1





        +1 This is the correct answer. "top | grep Chrome" is rather barbaric, because it greps-away ALL OF THE OUTPUT from top not matching "Chrome," losing stuff like the header and column labels. Using a subshell with the output from pgrep is a correct application of the unix philosophy.

        – John M Naglick
        Jan 25 '17 at 16:36








      • 1





        @loretoparisi that may be because the selector you are using matches multiple processes. See this answer for a command that works with one or more matching processes.

        – Michael Hays
        Nov 25 '18 at 15:28
















      34














      From my other answer here, you could do something like,



      top -p `pgrep "java"`





      share|improve this answer





















      • 3





        top -p `pgrep "java"` gives me the following error in a bash shell top: -p requires argument . top -p pgrep -d ',' "apache2" did work for me, but I didn't really understand what the command was doing - is it way of feeding in multiple arguments to top?

        – Michael Coleman
        Nov 1 '14 at 8:33













      • @Ramesh you need to give the pid list comma separated to work.

        – Kannan Mohan
        Nov 1 '14 at 13:33






      • 2





        This is the right answer.

        – j03m
        Aug 8 '16 at 13:51






      • 1





        +1 This is the correct answer. "top | grep Chrome" is rather barbaric, because it greps-away ALL OF THE OUTPUT from top not matching "Chrome," losing stuff like the header and column labels. Using a subshell with the output from pgrep is a correct application of the unix philosophy.

        – John M Naglick
        Jan 25 '17 at 16:36








      • 1





        @loretoparisi that may be because the selector you are using matches multiple processes. See this answer for a command that works with one or more matching processes.

        – Michael Hays
        Nov 25 '18 at 15:28














      34












      34








      34







      From my other answer here, you could do something like,



      top -p `pgrep "java"`





      share|improve this answer















      From my other answer here, you could do something like,



      top -p `pgrep "java"`






      share|improve this answer














      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer








      edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36









      Community♦

      1




      1










      answered Oct 31 '14 at 23:20









      RameshRamesh

      23.6k34103184




      23.6k34103184








      • 3





        top -p `pgrep "java"` gives me the following error in a bash shell top: -p requires argument . top -p pgrep -d ',' "apache2" did work for me, but I didn't really understand what the command was doing - is it way of feeding in multiple arguments to top?

        – Michael Coleman
        Nov 1 '14 at 8:33













      • @Ramesh you need to give the pid list comma separated to work.

        – Kannan Mohan
        Nov 1 '14 at 13:33






      • 2





        This is the right answer.

        – j03m
        Aug 8 '16 at 13:51






      • 1





        +1 This is the correct answer. "top | grep Chrome" is rather barbaric, because it greps-away ALL OF THE OUTPUT from top not matching "Chrome," losing stuff like the header and column labels. Using a subshell with the output from pgrep is a correct application of the unix philosophy.

        – John M Naglick
        Jan 25 '17 at 16:36








      • 1





        @loretoparisi that may be because the selector you are using matches multiple processes. See this answer for a command that works with one or more matching processes.

        – Michael Hays
        Nov 25 '18 at 15:28














      • 3





        top -p `pgrep "java"` gives me the following error in a bash shell top: -p requires argument . top -p pgrep -d ',' "apache2" did work for me, but I didn't really understand what the command was doing - is it way of feeding in multiple arguments to top?

        – Michael Coleman
        Nov 1 '14 at 8:33













      • @Ramesh you need to give the pid list comma separated to work.

        – Kannan Mohan
        Nov 1 '14 at 13:33






      • 2





        This is the right answer.

        – j03m
        Aug 8 '16 at 13:51






      • 1





        +1 This is the correct answer. "top | grep Chrome" is rather barbaric, because it greps-away ALL OF THE OUTPUT from top not matching "Chrome," losing stuff like the header and column labels. Using a subshell with the output from pgrep is a correct application of the unix philosophy.

        – John M Naglick
        Jan 25 '17 at 16:36








      • 1





        @loretoparisi that may be because the selector you are using matches multiple processes. See this answer for a command that works with one or more matching processes.

        – Michael Hays
        Nov 25 '18 at 15:28








      3




      3





      top -p `pgrep "java"` gives me the following error in a bash shell top: -p requires argument . top -p pgrep -d ',' "apache2" did work for me, but I didn't really understand what the command was doing - is it way of feeding in multiple arguments to top?

      – Michael Coleman
      Nov 1 '14 at 8:33







      top -p `pgrep "java"` gives me the following error in a bash shell top: -p requires argument . top -p pgrep -d ',' "apache2" did work for me, but I didn't really understand what the command was doing - is it way of feeding in multiple arguments to top?

      – Michael Coleman
      Nov 1 '14 at 8:33















      @Ramesh you need to give the pid list comma separated to work.

      – Kannan Mohan
      Nov 1 '14 at 13:33





      @Ramesh you need to give the pid list comma separated to work.

      – Kannan Mohan
      Nov 1 '14 at 13:33




      2




      2





      This is the right answer.

      – j03m
      Aug 8 '16 at 13:51





      This is the right answer.

      – j03m
      Aug 8 '16 at 13:51




      1




      1





      +1 This is the correct answer. "top | grep Chrome" is rather barbaric, because it greps-away ALL OF THE OUTPUT from top not matching "Chrome," losing stuff like the header and column labels. Using a subshell with the output from pgrep is a correct application of the unix philosophy.

      – John M Naglick
      Jan 25 '17 at 16:36







      +1 This is the correct answer. "top | grep Chrome" is rather barbaric, because it greps-away ALL OF THE OUTPUT from top not matching "Chrome," losing stuff like the header and column labels. Using a subshell with the output from pgrep is a correct application of the unix philosophy.

      – John M Naglick
      Jan 25 '17 at 16:36






      1




      1





      @loretoparisi that may be because the selector you are using matches multiple processes. See this answer for a command that works with one or more matching processes.

      – Michael Hays
      Nov 25 '18 at 15:28





      @loretoparisi that may be because the selector you are using matches multiple processes. See this answer for a command that works with one or more matching processes.

      – Michael Hays
      Nov 25 '18 at 15:28











      16














      top -p `pgrep -d "," java`


      Explanation:





      1. top -p pid1,pid2: show multiple process information, the pid should be separated by ,


      2. pgrep -d "," java: print the pids of all java program, the pids are separated by a newline by default. use the -d "," to separate it by , as required by the top.


      If you see error like top: -p argument missing, it means no java program is running, i.e. the pgrep has no output.






      share|improve this answer





















      • 1





        This solution works better than using top -p pgrep "java"`` only. thank you.

        – loretoparisi
        Sep 24 '18 at 8:26






      • 1





        Prevent the error by checking pgrep's exit code : pids="$(pgrep -d, java)" && top -p "$pids"

        – syme
        Nov 30 '18 at 16:42
















      16














      top -p `pgrep -d "," java`


      Explanation:





      1. top -p pid1,pid2: show multiple process information, the pid should be separated by ,


      2. pgrep -d "," java: print the pids of all java program, the pids are separated by a newline by default. use the -d "," to separate it by , as required by the top.


      If you see error like top: -p argument missing, it means no java program is running, i.e. the pgrep has no output.






      share|improve this answer





















      • 1





        This solution works better than using top -p pgrep "java"`` only. thank you.

        – loretoparisi
        Sep 24 '18 at 8:26






      • 1





        Prevent the error by checking pgrep's exit code : pids="$(pgrep -d, java)" && top -p "$pids"

        – syme
        Nov 30 '18 at 16:42














      16












      16








      16







      top -p `pgrep -d "," java`


      Explanation:





      1. top -p pid1,pid2: show multiple process information, the pid should be separated by ,


      2. pgrep -d "," java: print the pids of all java program, the pids are separated by a newline by default. use the -d "," to separate it by , as required by the top.


      If you see error like top: -p argument missing, it means no java program is running, i.e. the pgrep has no output.






      share|improve this answer















      top -p `pgrep -d "," java`


      Explanation:





      1. top -p pid1,pid2: show multiple process information, the pid should be separated by ,


      2. pgrep -d "," java: print the pids of all java program, the pids are separated by a newline by default. use the -d "," to separate it by , as required by the top.


      If you see error like top: -p argument missing, it means no java program is running, i.e. the pgrep has no output.







      share|improve this answer














      share|improve this answer



      share|improve this answer








      edited Jan 30 at 6:52

























      answered Feb 25 '17 at 16:03









      Mingjiang ShiMingjiang Shi

      26924




      26924








      • 1





        This solution works better than using top -p pgrep "java"`` only. thank you.

        – loretoparisi
        Sep 24 '18 at 8:26






      • 1





        Prevent the error by checking pgrep's exit code : pids="$(pgrep -d, java)" && top -p "$pids"

        – syme
        Nov 30 '18 at 16:42














      • 1





        This solution works better than using top -p pgrep "java"`` only. thank you.

        – loretoparisi
        Sep 24 '18 at 8:26






      • 1





        Prevent the error by checking pgrep's exit code : pids="$(pgrep -d, java)" && top -p "$pids"

        – syme
        Nov 30 '18 at 16:42








      1




      1





      This solution works better than using top -p pgrep "java"`` only. thank you.

      – loretoparisi
      Sep 24 '18 at 8:26





      This solution works better than using top -p pgrep "java"`` only. thank you.

      – loretoparisi
      Sep 24 '18 at 8:26




      1




      1





      Prevent the error by checking pgrep's exit code : pids="$(pgrep -d, java)" && top -p "$pids"

      – syme
      Nov 30 '18 at 16:42





      Prevent the error by checking pgrep's exit code : pids="$(pgrep -d, java)" && top -p "$pids"

      – syme
      Nov 30 '18 at 16:42











      9














      In OpenBSD top, just press g and enter the command name you'd like to filter on.



      In top on e.g. Ubuntu, press o and enter e.g. COMMAND=chrome to only show entries from the COMMAND column that are equal to chrome.



      On Linuxes that uses the same top implementation as Ubuntu, read the FILTERING in a Window section in the top manual.






      share|improve this answer




























        9














        In OpenBSD top, just press g and enter the command name you'd like to filter on.



        In top on e.g. Ubuntu, press o and enter e.g. COMMAND=chrome to only show entries from the COMMAND column that are equal to chrome.



        On Linuxes that uses the same top implementation as Ubuntu, read the FILTERING in a Window section in the top manual.






        share|improve this answer


























          9












          9








          9







          In OpenBSD top, just press g and enter the command name you'd like to filter on.



          In top on e.g. Ubuntu, press o and enter e.g. COMMAND=chrome to only show entries from the COMMAND column that are equal to chrome.



          On Linuxes that uses the same top implementation as Ubuntu, read the FILTERING in a Window section in the top manual.






          share|improve this answer













          In OpenBSD top, just press g and enter the command name you'd like to filter on.



          In top on e.g. Ubuntu, press o and enter e.g. COMMAND=chrome to only show entries from the COMMAND column that are equal to chrome.



          On Linuxes that uses the same top implementation as Ubuntu, read the FILTERING in a Window section in the top manual.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered Oct 8 '17 at 6:48









          KusalanandaKusalananda

          129k16243400




          129k16243400























              7














              Other good answers have been provided, but I made a script some time ago, which I named ptop, that serves me well:



              #!/bin/sh
              
top -p $(pidof "$@" |sed s# #,#g) 2>/dev/null
              
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
              
  echo No processes with the specified name(s) were found
              
fi


              This supports multiple process names to be specified (like ptop bash chrome) and provides a nicer error message in case there is/are no processes with any of the specified names running.






              share|improve this answer






























                7














                Other good answers have been provided, but I made a script some time ago, which I named ptop, that serves me well:



                #!/bin/sh
                
top -p $(pidof "$@" |sed s# #,#g) 2>/dev/null
                
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
                
  echo No processes with the specified name(s) were found
                
fi


                This supports multiple process names to be specified (like ptop bash chrome) and provides a nicer error message in case there is/are no processes with any of the specified names running.






                share|improve this answer




























                  7












                  7








                  7







                  Other good answers have been provided, but I made a script some time ago, which I named ptop, that serves me well:



                  #!/bin/sh
                  
top -p $(pidof "$@" |sed s# #,#g) 2>/dev/null
                  
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
                  
  echo No processes with the specified name(s) were found
                  
fi


                  This supports multiple process names to be specified (like ptop bash chrome) and provides a nicer error message in case there is/are no processes with any of the specified names running.






                  share|improve this answer















                  Other good answers have been provided, but I made a script some time ago, which I named ptop, that serves me well:



                  #!/bin/sh
                  
top -p $(pidof "$@" |sed s# #,#g) 2>/dev/null
                  
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
                  
  echo No processes with the specified name(s) were found
                  
fi


                  This supports multiple process names to be specified (like ptop bash chrome) and provides a nicer error message in case there is/are no processes with any of the specified names running.







                  share|improve this answer














                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer








                  edited Mar 12 '17 at 23:13

























                  answered Nov 1 '14 at 10:20









                  MarceloMarcelo

                  2,361816




                  2,361816























                      2














                      If you want to stay in top and keep all other processes in view for context, you can press L to search for your process:



                      Locate string chrome


                      This will highlight any process with chrome in the name, and bring it into view. Use & to go to the next match.



                      You can press c to switch between showing the process name and the full command.






                      share|improve this answer


























                      • This ^ because RTFM people! man top | less +/5d

                        – cprn
                        Oct 26 '18 at 14:09
















                      2














                      If you want to stay in top and keep all other processes in view for context, you can press L to search for your process:



                      Locate string chrome


                      This will highlight any process with chrome in the name, and bring it into view. Use & to go to the next match.



                      You can press c to switch between showing the process name and the full command.






                      share|improve this answer


























                      • This ^ because RTFM people! man top | less +/5d

                        – cprn
                        Oct 26 '18 at 14:09














                      2












                      2








                      2







                      If you want to stay in top and keep all other processes in view for context, you can press L to search for your process:



                      Locate string chrome


                      This will highlight any process with chrome in the name, and bring it into view. Use & to go to the next match.



                      You can press c to switch between showing the process name and the full command.






                      share|improve this answer















                      If you want to stay in top and keep all other processes in view for context, you can press L to search for your process:



                      Locate string chrome


                      This will highlight any process with chrome in the name, and bring it into view. Use & to go to the next match.



                      You can press c to switch between showing the process name and the full command.







                      share|improve this answer














                      share|improve this answer



                      share|improve this answer








                      edited Jun 26 '18 at 9:33

























                      answered Jun 26 '18 at 9:10









                      jonatanjonatan

                      1214




                      1214













                      • This ^ because RTFM people! man top | less +/5d

                        – cprn
                        Oct 26 '18 at 14:09



















                      • This ^ because RTFM people! man top | less +/5d

                        – cprn
                        Oct 26 '18 at 14:09

















                      This ^ because RTFM people! man top | less +/5d

                      – cprn
                      Oct 26 '18 at 14:09





                      This ^ because RTFM people! man top | less +/5d

                      – cprn
                      Oct 26 '18 at 14:09


















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