How to Check Running Processes in Linux?

In Linux, you can efficiently manage your system by checking and monitoring system processes. This helps you inspect which processes are consuming more CPU and memory. 

Furthermore, checking processes in Linux allows you for effective system management, issue resolution, security enhancement, and performance optimization.

This post aims to explore various methods to check the running process in Linux. 

How to Check Running Processes in Linux?

The following three (3) different methods can be utilized to view and monitor the running processes in Linux-based systems.

Method 1: Check the Running Process via “ps”

You can utilize various “ps” commands to view the processes in your Linux system.

List All Processes

The following is the commonly used command to show a detailed list of all processes running on your Linux system, including user, CPU usage, and process status:

ps aux 

After executing the command, a detailed list of processes, as shown above, will be displayed in your terminal window. This information can be helpful to inspect and analyze the status of your Linux system.

Display Top processes by CPU Usage

You can sort the top processes based on CPU usage with the command given below:

ps aux --sort=-%cpu | head -n 11

The command will return a detailed list of the top 10 processes based on the highest CPU usage on your Linux system.

List All Processes in Tree View

To show processes in a hierarchical tree view, you can use the following command:

pstree 

You can better understand the relationships between parent and child processes in Linux through a hierarchical tree view. 

Method 2: Check Running Processes with “top”

In Linux systems, running processes can also be checked using the “top” command.

Display All Processes

To monitor real-time processes, run command in the Linux terminal:

top 

The top command displays an interactive interface with a summary, including total tasks, running and sleeping processes, etc. Additionally, it continuously updates a list of processes, system statistics, and resource usage on your Linux system. 

Method 3: Check Running Processes Using “System Monitor (GUI)”

Use the graphical interface (System Monitor) to inspect the processes on the Linux.

Step 1: Open “System Monitor”

Navigate your Linux Applications and open the “System Monitor”, a graphical interface:

System Monitor

View My Processes

Upon launching the System Monitor, you can view your system processes on the screen:

The “System Monitor” displays a list of processes categorized under headings such as Process Name, User, CPU usage, and more.

Step 2: View Active Processes

To view a list of active processes, click on the “Processes” tab:

The “Active Processes” will show only the running processes of your Linux system.

You can use the graphical interface, “System Monitor”, to sort processes based on your requirements.

Conclusion

There are various methods to check the running processes on the Linux system. The ps and top are command-line tools, while the System Monitor is a GUI tool for monitoring processes on your Linux system. We have practically implemented these tool to check the running process in Linux-based system.

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