⚙️ Process Management March 6, 2026 10

Linux Command: nice

Run a command with modified scheduling priority

Terminal — Process Management

Command

$ nice -n 15 make -j$(nproc)

Output

Compiles code using all cores but at low priority so the system stays responsive.

nice runs a command with a modified scheduling priority. The niceness value ranges from -20 (highest priority) to 19 (lowest priority). The default niceness is 0. Higher niceness means the process is "nicer" to other processes — it yields CPU time. Lower (negative) niceness means the process takes priority. Only root can set negative niceness values. nice is essential for running CPU-intensive tasks without impacting system responsiveness. Use it for backups, compilations, batch processing, and any long-running task that should not starve other processes.

Syntax

nice [OPTION]... COMMAND

Common Examples

nice -n 15 make -j$(nproc) — Compiles code using all cores but at low priority so the system stays responsive.
nice tar czf backup.tar.gz /home/ — Runs with niceness 10 (default nice increment).
nice -n 19 find / -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete — Runs cleanup at the lowest possible priority.
sudo nice -n -10 critical-service — Starts a critical service with higher priority than normal processes.