What is process name in linux

Linux find process by name

Procedure to find process by name on Linux

1. Open the terminal application.
2. Type the pidof command as follows to find PID for firefox process:
   pidof firefox
3. Or use the ps command along with grep command as follows:
   ps aux | grep -i firefox
4. To look up or signal processes based on name use:

pgrep firefox

Linux find process by name using pgrep command

pgrep command looks through the currently running processes and lists the process IDs which match the selection criteria to screen. All the criteria have to match. For example, will only list the processes called sshd AND owned by root user:
$ pgrep -u root sshd
Just look up pid for firefox process:
$ pgrep firefox

How to use ‘ps aux | grep command’

ps command shows information about a selection of the active processes:
$ ps aux
$ ps aux | grep -i ‘search-term’
$ ps aux | grep ‘firefox’
$ ps aux | grep ‘sshd’
OR use the following syntax instead of using egrep command in pipes:
$ ps -fC firefox
$ ps -fC chrome
The -C option asks ps command to select PIDs by command name.

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Using pidof command to grab PIDs for any named program on Linux

The pidof command finds the process id’s (pids) of the named programs such as sshd, firefox and more. For example:
$ pidof sshd
$ pidof firefox
Sample outputs:

A note about top/htop command

To display Linux processes use top command or htop command:
$ top
OR
$ htop

See also

Getting more help

Read the man pages for the following command using man command:
$ man pgrep
$ man pidof
$ man ps

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How to check running process in Linux using command line

I am a new system administrator for the Linux operating system. How do I check running process in Linux using the command line option?

Tutorial details
Difficulty level	Easy
Root privileges	Yes
Requirements	Linux terminal
Est. reading time	4 mintues

One can use the Linux command line or terminal app to display a running process, change their priorities level, delete process and more. This page shows how to use various commands to list, kill and manage process on Linux.

Check running process in Linux

The procedure to monitor the running process in Linux using the command line is as follows:

1. Open the terminal window on Linux
2. For remote Linux server use the ssh command for log in purpose
3. Type the ps aux command to see all running process in Linux
4. Alternatively, you can issue the top command or htop command to view running process in Linux

Let us see some example and usage in details.

Please note that vivek@nixcraft:

$ is my shell prompt. You need to type commands after the $ prompt.

How to manage processes from the Linux terminal

The ps command is a traditional Linux command to lists running processes. The following command shows all processes running on your Linux based server or system:
vivek@nixcraft:

$ ps -aux
vivek@nixcraft:

1. root – User name
2. 1 – PID (Linux process ID)
3. 19:10 – Process start time
4. /sbin/init splash – Actual process or command

There may be too many processes. Hence, it uses the following less command/more command as pipe to display process one screen at a time:
vivek@nixcraft:

$ ps -aux | more
vivek@nixcraft:

$ sudo ps -aux | less
Press q to exit from above Linux pagers. You can search for a particular Linux process using grep command/egrep command:
vivek@nixcraft:

$ ps aux | grep firefox
vivek@nixcraft:

$ sudo ps aux | grep vim
vivek@nixcraft:

$ sudo ps -aux | egrep ‘sshd|openvpn|nginx’

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Linux pgrep command

Many variants of Linux comes with the pgrep command to search/find process. The syntax is:
vivek@nixcraft:

$ sudo pgrep sshd
vivek@nixcraft:

$ pgrep vim
vivek@nixcraft:

$ pgrep firefox
vivek@nixcraft:

Linux top command

The top command is another highly recommended method to see your Linux servers resource usage. One can see a list of top process that using the most memory or CPU or disk.
vivek@nixcraft:

$ sudo top
vivek@nixcraft:

Linux htop command to check running process in Linux

The htop command is an interactive process viewer and recommended method for Linux users. One can see a list of top process that using the most memory or CPU or disk and more:
vivek@nixcraft:

$ sudo htop
vivek@nixcraft:

Linux kill command

Want to kill a process? Try kill command. The syntax is:
vivek@nixcraft:

$ kill pid
vivek@nixcraft:

$ kill -signal pid
Find PID using ps, pgrep or top commands. Say you want to kill a PID # 16750, run:
vivek@nixcraft:

$ kill 16750
For some reason if the process can not be killed, try forceful killing:
vivek@nixcraft:

$ kill -9 16750
OR
vivek@nixcraft:

$ kill -KILL 16750

Linux pkill command

If you wish to kill a process by name, try pkill command. The syntax is:
vivek@nixcraft:

$ pkill processName
vivek@nixcraft:

$ pkill vim
vivek@nixcraft:

$ pkill firefox
vivek@nixcraft:

$ pkill -9 emacs
vivek@nixcraft:

$ sudo pkill -KILL php7-fpm

Linux killall command

The killall command kills processes by name, as opposed to the selection by PID as done by kill command:
vivek@nixcraft:

$ killall vim
vivek@nixcraft:

$ killall -9 emacs

Linux nice and renice command

The primary purpose of the nice command is to run a process/command at a lower or higher priority. Use the renice command to alter the nice value of one or more running Linux processes. The nice value can range from -20 to 19, with 19 being the lowest priority. Say, you want to compile software on a busy Linux server. You can set a very low priority, enter:
vivek@nixcraft:

$ nice -n 13 cc -c *.c &
Set a very high priority for a kernel update. Before rebooting Linux server, run:

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How to Find a Process Name Using PID Number in Linux

In this article, we will look at how to find a process name by its process identification number (PID). Before we dive into the actual solution, let us briefly talk about how processes are created and identified by Linux.

Every time a user or the system (Linux) launches a program, the kernel will create a process. A process holds execution details of the program in memory such as its input and output data, variables and so on.

Importantly, since Linux is a multitasking operating system, it executes several programs simultaneously, and this means each process process must be identified specifically.

The kernel identifies each process using a process ID (PID), a every instance of process must have a unique PID from other processes which is assigned when the process is invoked, to avoid any execution errors.

The /proc file system stores information about currently running processes on your system, it contains directories for each process.

Use the ls command to list its contents, however, the list may be long, so employ a pipeline and the less utility to view the /proc contents in a more convenient way as below:

From the screenshot above, the numbered directories store information files about the processes in execution, where each number corresponds to a PID.

Below is the list of files for systemd process with PID 1:

You can monitor processes and their PIDs using traditional Linux commands such as ps, top and relatively new glances command plus many more as in the examples below:

Monitor Linux processes using traditional top command.

Monitor Linux Processes with top Command

Monitor Linux processes using glances, a new real-time process monitoring tool for Linux.

Glances – Real Time Linux Processes Monitoring

Find Out Process PID Number

To find out the PID of a process, you can use pidof , a simple command to print out the PID of a process:

Find Linux Process PID

Coming back to our point of focus, assuming you already know the PID of a process, you can print its name using the command form below:

1. -p specifies the PID
2. -o format enables a user-defined format

Find Out Process Name Using PID Number

In this section, we will see how to find out a process name using its PID number with the help of user defined format i.e comm= which means command name, same as the process name.

Find Linux Process Name

For additional usage information and options, look through the ps man page.

If you want to kill a process using its PID number, I suggest you to read Find and Kill Linux Processes Using its PID.

Thats it for the moment, if you know any other better way to find out a process name using PID, do share with us via our comment section below.

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How to List Running Processes in Linux: A Beginner’s Guide

Need to view all running processes on your Linux server and discover which consumes your resources the most? Look no further, because, in this article, we’ll explain how to list Linux processes by using several common commands.

Introduction to Linux Processes

A process is the execution of a program. They can be launched when opening an application or when issuing a command through the command-line terminal.

A command can only generate a process. However, an application can run multiple processes for different tasks. For instance, Google Chrome will start a different process each time a new tab is opened.

Each Linux process is assigned a unique PID (process identification number). If there are no possible combinations left, the system can reuse old PIDs for newer processes.

A process can be initiated as a foreground or background process.

By default, all commands that run in the shell will start as foreground processes. As the process occupies the shell, you have to wait until it is finished before executing other commands.

If a command takes too long to complete, you can run it as a background process by adding an ampersand (&) at the end of the command so you can use the shell for other tasks.

Occasionally, processes may consume a lot of resources and need to be killed. Alternatively, times when you may want to change the priority level of a process, so the system will allocate more resources to it. Regardless of the case, all these tasks require you to do the same thing: listing the running processes on Linux.

How to List Running Processes in Linux?

There are several commands that you can use to list running processes: ps, top, and htop.

Utilizing the “ps” Command

The ps (process statuses) command produces a snapshot of all running processes. Therefore, unlike the Windows task manager, the results are static.

When this command is used without any additional argument or option, it will return a list of running processes along with four crucial columns: the PID, terminal name (TTY), running time (TIME), and the name of the command that launches the process (CMD). You can use ps aux to get more in-depth information about your running processes. Here’s a breakdown of each argument:

• a option outputs all running processes of all users in the system.
• u option provides additional information like memory and CPU usage percentage, the process state code, and the owner of the processes.
• x option lists all processes not executed from the terminal. A perfect example of this are daemons, which are system-related processes that run in the background when the system is booted up.

If you want to list Linux processes in a hierarchical view, use the ps -axjf command. In this format, the shell will put child processes under their parent processes. Aside from those two options, here are some other common examples of the ps command that list running processes in Linux:

• ps -u [username] lists all running processes of a certain user.
• ps -e or ps -A displays active Linux processes in the generic UNIX format.
• ps -T prints active processes that are executed from the terminal.
• Ps -C process_name will filter the list by the process name. In addition, this command also shows all child processes of the specified process.

Using the “top” Command

The top command is used to discover resource-hungry processes. This Linux command will sort the list by CPU usage, so the process which consumes the most resources will be placed at the top.

Unlike the ps command, the output of the top command is updated periodically. That means you’ll see real-time updates for CPU usage and running time. Once the shell returns the list, you can press the following keys to interact with it:

Keys	Functions
k	Kills a process
M	Sorts the list by memory usage.
N	Sorts the list by PID.
r	Changes the priority of a process.
h	Displays the help window.
z	Displays running processes in colors.
d	Changes the refresh time interval.
c	Displays the absolute path of a process.
CTRL+C or q	Stops the top command.

Keep in mind that the keys above are case sensitive, so be sure not to enable the caps lock.

Running “htop” Command

Both the htop and top command display the same information when listing your Linux processes, but the former offers user-friendly features that are great for everyday process management.

First thing first, the htop command allows you to scroll vertically and horizontally. As such, you can see the complete list of your Linux processes along with their full command lines.

What’s more, the command allows you to use a mouse to select items, kill processes without inserting their PIDs, change the priority of multiple processes easily, and so on.

Unfortunately, most Linux distributions don’t have this command right out of the box, so you need to install it manually.

If you use Ubuntu, you can install htop by running the following command:

Once installed, type htop, and you’ll get a list of all your Linux processes. Just like the previous command, htop also has several keyboard shortcuts:

Keys	Functions
F9	To kill a process.
F8	Increase the priority of a process.
F7	Decrease the priority of a process.
F6	Sort processes by any column.
F5	Display processes in a tree view.
F4	Filter the processes by name.
F3	Search for a process.
F2	Open htop setup.
F1	Display the help menu.

Conclusion

It is important to know how to list all running processes in your Linux operating system. The knowledge will be useful when you need to manage processes.

Let’s take a look once more at the three commands that you can use to list Linux processes:

• ps command — outputs a static view of all processes.
• top command — displays the real-time list of all running processes.
• htop command — shows the real-time result and is equipped with user-friendly features.

Which command do you prefer? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

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