htop

by Hisham Muhammad hisham@gobolinux.org (2004 - 2016)

Introduction

This is htop, an interactive process viewer. It requires ncurses. It is developed primarily on Linux, but we also have code for running under FreeBSD and Mac OS X (help and testing are wanted for these platforms!)

This software has evolved considerably over the years, and is reasonably complete, but there is always room for improvement.

Comparison between htop and classic top

• In htop you can scroll the list vertically and horizontally to see all processes and full command lines.
• In top you are subject to a delay for each unassigned key you press (especially annoying when multi-key escape sequences are triggered by accident).
• htop starts faster (top seems to collect data for a while before displaying anything).
• In htop you don't need to type the process number to kill a process, in top you do.
• In htop you don't need to type the process number or the priority value to renice a process, in top you do.
• In htop you can kill multiple processes at once.
• top is older, hence, more tested.

Compilation instructions

This program is distributed as a standard autotools-based package. See the INSTALL file for detailed instructions, but you are probably used to the common routine:

./autogen.sh && ./configure && make

If you want to replace currently installed version of htop use --prefix flag. --prefix=/usr will install htop into /usr/bin/htop.

./autogen.sh && ./configure --prefix=/usr && make
make install

See the manual page (man htop) or the on-line help ('F1' or 'h' inside htop) for a list of supported key commands.

If not all keys work check your curses configuration.

Prerequisites

Debian/Ubuntu

apt-get install build-essential libncursesw5-dev autotools-dev

License

GNU General Public License, version 2 (GPL-2.0)