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Accepted
Mohammad Reza Rezwani
Asked: 2014-06-18 03:30:10 +0800 CST

How to run ''top'' command 1 time and exit?

  • 772

Is there any switch to tell top command in order to one time scan the system and do not monitor it all time?

command-line

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    The -n switch is what you search:

    user@host:~$ top -n 1

    See the manpage

       -n : Number of iterations limit as:  -n number
        Specifies the maximum number of iterations, or frames, top should produce before ending.

    If you want to stop top command just press q.

    Notice: If you tend to use top in a script, I need to say top is not meant for scripts, use ps instead.

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  2. notice that if you would like to keep "top" command for a script, you could use -b option ("-b" option means "batch mode operation"), this option allows you to redirect the output into a file.

    Examples:

    • top one shoot batch mode : top -bn 1 2>&1 1> /tmp/topN
    • top sorted by memory usage one shoot batch mode : top -ban 1 2>&1 1> /tmp/topAN
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