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htop Cheatsheet

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htop is an interactive process viewer and system monitor. Enhanced version of top with better visualization, mouse support, and easier navigation.

Basic Usage

  • htop - Start interactive monitor
  • htop -u user - Show only user processes
  • htop -p PID1,PID2 - Monitor specific PIDs
  • htop -s column - Sort by column

Interactive Keys

  • F1 - Help
  • F2 - Setup (configure display)
  • F3 - Search process
  • F4 - Filter processes
  • F5 - Tree view
  • F6 - Sort by column
  • F7 - Decrease nice (higher priority)
  • F8 - Increase nice (lower priority)
  • F9 - Kill process
  • F10 - Quit
  • Space - Tag process
  • u - Show processes of specific user
  • t - Tree/List view toggle
  • H - Show/hide threads
  • K - Show/hide kernel threads
  • P - Sort by CPU
  • M - Sort by memory
  • T - Sort by time
  • / - Search
  • \ - Filter

Command Line Options

  • -d delay - Update delay in seconds
  • -u user - Show only user processes
  • -p PID - Show only specific PIDs
  • -s column - Sort by column
  • -C - No color
  • -t - Tree view by default

Common Examples

Basic Monitor

htop

Start interactive monitor.

User Processes

htop -u username

Show only specific user.

Sort by Memory

htop -s PERCENT_MEM

Start sorted by memory usage.

Tree View

htop -t

Start in tree view.

Specific PIDs

htop -p 1234,5678

Monitor specific processes.

Tips

  • Use F6 to change sort column
  • Use F4 to filter processes
  • Use F5 for tree view to see process hierarchy
  • Use F9 to kill processes
  • Use F7/F8 to adjust process priority
  • Much more user-friendly than top
  • Supports mouse interaction
  • Essential for system monitoring