Listing Processes

From the command line, the ps command is the oldest and most common command for listing processes currently running on your system. The Linux version of ps contains a variety of options from old UNIX and BSD systems, some of which are conflicting and implemented in nonstandard ways. See the ps man page for descriptions of those different options.

The top command provides a more screen-oriented approach to listing processes, and it can also be used to change the status of processes.

If you are using the GNOME desktop, you can use the System Monitor tool gnome-system-monitor to provide a graphical means of working with processes.

All of these commands are described in the following sections.