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Linux Beginner

What is Top/Htop?

Interactive process viewers that display real-time system resource usage including CPU, memory, and running processes.

Top is the classic process monitor showing CPU, memory, swap, and per-process statistics in real-time. Htop is an improved version with color coding, mouse support, tree view, and easier process management.

Key information includes load average, CPU per core, memory usage, and process lists sortable by CPU%, MEM%, or time. Press k to kill a process, f to filter, and t for tree view (htop). Essential for identifying resource-hungry processes.

Related Terms

ACL (Access Control List)
An extension to standard Linux file permissions that allows setting fine-grained access rights for specific users and groups beyond owner/group/other.
Pipe
A mechanism that connects the output of one command directly to the input of another, enabling command chaining.
Logrotate
A utility that manages automatic rotation, compression, and removal of log files to prevent disk space exhaustion.
Network Namespace
A Linux kernel feature that provides isolated network stacks with independent interfaces, routing tables, and firewall rules.
AppArmor
A Linux security module that restricts program capabilities using per-application profiles, simpler to configure than SELinux.
Inode
A data structure in Unix filesystems that stores metadata about a file, excluding its name and data.
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