Operation and Maintenance
Linux Operation and Maintenance
How to Monitor CPU Usage in Linux? (Using top and htop)
How to Monitor CPU Usage in Linux? (Using top and htop)
top和htop均可实时监控Linux CPU使用率,top预装但界面简陋,htop需安装但支持彩色显示、鼠标操作和多核可视化。

Check CPU usage in Linux with top or htop — both show real-time process activity, but htop is more user-friendly and feature-rich.
Using top to monitor CPU usage
top is pre-installed on most Linux systems and gives a live, dynamic view of system processes and resource consumption.
- Run
topin the terminal — CPU usage summary appears in the top few lines (e.g., %Cpu(s): 2.3 us, 0.7 sy, 0.0 ni, 96.7 id...) - Press
Shift Pto sort by CPU usage (descending), so the most CPU-heavy processes appear at the top - Press
1to toggle per-CPU core view (useful on multi-core systems) - Press
qto quit
Using htop for better visualization
htop isn’t installed by default but offers color coding, vertical/horizontal scrolling, mouse support, and an intuitive interface.
- Install it first:
sudo apt install htop(Debian/Ubuntu) orsudo yum install htop(RHEL/CentOS) - Launch with
htop— CPU usage is shown as colored bars at the top, one per core - Use arrow keys to navigate,
F6to sort (choose %CPU), andF9to kill a selected process - Press
hanytime to see the built-in help menu
Quick tips for effective monitoring
Both tools let you spot bottlenecks fast — but interpreting the numbers matters.
- Look at the idle (%) value — consistently near 0% means the CPU is saturated
- High system (%) time may point to kernel or I/O-heavy operations; high user (%) suggests application-level load
- In
top, the%CPUcolumn shows CPU time used *since last refresh*, not total usage — so short-lived spikes may not stand out - For scripting or logging, prefer
mpstat(fromsysstat) orvmstatinstead of interactive tools
Basically, top gets you started immediately; htop makes ongoing monitoring easier and clearer. Not complicated — just know what each number represents and where to look.
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