nice Command
Intermediate Process Management man(1)Run a command with modified scheduling priority
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📅 Updated: Apr 29, 2026
SYNTAX
nice [OPTION]... COMMAND
What Does nice Do?
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.
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.
Options & Flags
| Option | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -n | Set niceness adjustment value | nice -n 10 make -j4 |
| default | Without -n, uses niceness 10 | nice make |
| negative | Higher priority (root only) | sudo nice -n -5 critical-process |
| range | Values from -20 to 19 | nice -n 19 lowest-priority-task |
Practical Examples
#1 Run with low priority
Compiles code using all cores but at low priority so the system stays responsive.
$ nice -n 15 make -j$(nproc)#2 Default nice
Runs with niceness 10 (default nice increment).
$ nice tar czf backup.tar.gz /home/#3 Lowest priority
Runs cleanup at the lowest possible priority.
$ nice -n 19 find / -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete#4 High priority (root)
Starts a critical service with higher priority than normal processes.
$ sudo nice -n -10 critical-service#5 Background job with nice
Runs a backup sync in the background at lowest priority.
$ nice -n 19 rsync -av /data/ /backup/  Check current niceness
Shows the current niceness value of the shell.
$ niceTips & Best Practices
Always nice background jobs: Use nice -n 19 for backups, builds, and batch jobs. This prevents them from making the system sluggish for interactive users.
renice for running processes: nice sets priority at launch. To change priority of an already running process, use renice: renice -n 10 -p PID.
Negative values need root: Only root can set negative niceness (higher priority). Regular users can only increase niceness (lower priority).
Frequently Asked Questions
What niceness value should I use?
10-19 for background tasks (lower priority). 0 for normal tasks. Negative values (root only) for time-critical tasks. 19 is the safest for non-urgent work.
How do I change priority of a running process?
Use renice: renice -n 10 -p PID. Or from top/htop, press r and enter the new niceness value.
Does nice affect I/O priority too?
No, nice only affects CPU scheduling priority. For I/O priority, use ionice: ionice -c3 command runs with idle I/O priority.
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