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Accepted
Ben K.
Asked: 2010-05-08 07:46:36 +0800 CST

Show full process name in top

  • 772

I'm running a Rails stack on Ubuntu.

When I call ps -AF, I get a descriptive process name set by the Apache module like

00:00:43 Rails: /var/www...

which is really helpful in diagnosing load issues.

But when I call top, the same process shows up simply as

ruby

Is there any way to get the ps -AF process name in top?

command-line-interface process top ps

6 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    While top is running, you can press c to toggle between showing the process name and the command line. To remember the toggle state for next time, press W to save the current configuration to ~/.toprc.

    • 238

  2. This is more of a general suggestion, than an answer:

    Try out htop. It shows the full process name by default and I think it's much easier to use.

    • 25

  3. top -c -n 1 should give you what you want.

    • -c: automatically toggles between command line and program name
    • -n 1: this makes top to exit out immediately without showing the updates every 3 seconds (by default)
    • 15

  4. When running top type c to toggle command line/process.

    • 6

  5. You could either press c while top is running or use htop. But, if I may, give glances a look as well. It could serve as an alternative.

    Glances Home

    I use it quite a bit and is really handy!

    • 1

  6. You can also press h to get the full list of commands.

    • 0