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- The -g or --chgexit option causes the watch command to exit if there is a change in the output: watch -g [command] As an example, adding the free command monitors your system's memory consumption and exits if the value changes: watch -g free
phoenixnap.com/kb/linux-watch-commandLinux Watch Command - Examples And How to Use It - phoenixNAP
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May 23, 2018 · Say you want the free command to execute every 5 seconds. This command would be: watch -d -n 5 free. One very good usage for watch is keeping tabs on file changes.
- The Free Command
- The Free Columns
- The Wide Display
- The Total Column
- The Used Column
- The Free Column
- The Shared Column
- The Buffer and Cache Columns
- The Available Column
- Changing The Display Units
The free command prints a quick summary of memory usage in a terminal window. it doesn't have many options or tricks up its sleeves, and it doesn't take much time or effort to learn how to use it. To learn to correctly interpret the information it provides, however, is another story. It is too easy to become confused by what freeis telling you. Par...
Let's fire up freewith no options and see what we get: That's wrapped around in an ugly way. On your computer, you'll be able to stretch the terminal window. Here's the output in a neater table: The figures are given in kibibytes, which are 1024 bytes. On Manjaro, the free command is aliased as free -m. This forces free to use mebibytes, which are ...
To separate the Buff/cache figures into their own columns, use the -w(wide) option: This is the result. Instead of a Buff/cache column, we get a Buffers column and a Cachecolumn. Here are the figures in a table: Let's see what the figures in the columns represent.
This is the simple one. It's how much RAM you have installed on your motherboard. This is the precious resource that all of the running processes are fighting over. At least they would be fighting if the kernel wasn't refereeing. Incidentally, the place where free gathers its information from is the /proc/meminfopseudo-file. You can take a look int...
This is where it starts to get interesting. The Used figure represents what you'd probably expect it to, plus a bunch of other stuff. This is the memory that is allocated to processes, taken by user programs, and used by things like the GNOME or KDE desktop environments. No surprises there. But it also includes the Buffers and Cachefigures. RAM tha...
This column holds the figure for the amount of RAM that is not being used by anything. Because the Usedcolumn contains the Buffers and Cache figures, it's not uncommon for perfectly functioning Linux systems to have very little RAM listed as "free." That's not necessarily a bad thing, and almost certainly means you've got a perfectly normally funct...
The figure in the Shared column represents memory devoted to holding tmpfs RAM-based file systems. These are file systems that are created in memory to facilitate the efficient functioning of the operating system. To see which tmpfs file systems are present, use the df command. The options we're using are: 1. -h(human): Use sensible, best-fit units...
The Buffer and Cache columns only appear if you have used the -w (wide). Without the - w option, the figures from these two columns are combined into the Buff/cachecolumn. These two memory areas interact and depend on one another. The cache area holds (mainly) data that has been read from the hard drive. It is retained in case you need to access it...
The available column is the sum of the Free column plus the portions of the Buffers and Cache columns (or the Buff/cache column) that can be relinquished immediately. The Availablecolumn is an estimate, not an exact figure. It's an informed estimate and an accurate one, but it shouldn't be taken as accurate to the last byte.
To change units that free displays the figures in, use one of the following options. 1. -b: Displays the values in bytes. 2. -k: Displays the values in kibibytes (which is the default). 3. -m: Displays the values in mibibytes. 4. -g: Displays the values in gibibytes. 5. -h: Displays the values in sensible best-fit, units (human-readable) units. For...
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Aug 12, 2021 · Watch command in Linux Basic Examples. By default, the watch command will run your specified command every 2 seconds, while continuing to display the latest output in your terminal.
- watch
- Any Linux distro
Aug 11, 2021 · The watch command is a built-in Linux utility used for running user-defined commands at regular intervals. It temporarily clears all the terminal content and displays the output of the attached command, along with the current system date and time.
Nov 5, 2023 · The watch command is a useful tool for monitoring the output of a command over time in a full-screen mode. It allows you to continuously observe changes in the output without having to manually execute the command repeatedly. In this article, we will explore different use cases of the watch command to illustrate its versatility and practicality.
Sep 9, 2024 · By default, ‘watch’ runs the specified command every 2 seconds, continuously updating the display until interrupted. Here, we will cover the syntax, options, and practical examples of the ‘watch’ command, helping you utilize it effectively in your Linux environment.
Sep 8, 2021 · Combined with the watch command, you can see a live view of your computers memory usage: watch free. Again, you can see that watch is executing the free command every 2 seconds, as displayed in the top left corner. The current date and time, along with the hostname, are displayed in the top right.
