🖥️ System Information March 8, 2026 5

Linux Command: nproc

Print the number of processing units available

Terminal — System Information

Command

$ nproc

Output

Shows the number of available processing units.

nproc prints the number of available processing units (CPU cores/threads). It is the simplest way to determine how many parallel tasks the system can handle. nproc is commonly used with make -j for parallel compilation and with xargs -P for parallel command execution. It respects cgroup limits in containers, making it more accurate than parsing /proc/cpuinfo. nproc outputs a single number, making it perfect for command substitution in scripts.

Syntax

nproc [OPTION]...

Common Examples

nproc — Shows the number of available processing units.
make -j$(nproc) — Compiles using all available CPU cores.
find . -name '*.png' | xargs -P $(nproc) -I {} convert {} -resize 50% {} — Processes images in parallel using all cores.
make -j$(($(nproc) - 1)) — Compiles using all cores except one, keeping system responsive.