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ps, top and pstree for Human Beings

See below for how to install_.

ptop is what I usually use when LoadViz_ shows something unexpected is going on.

px I use for figuring out things like "do I still have any Flutter_ processes running in the background"?

pxtree can be used as watch --color pxtree brew to figure out what Homebrew_ is doing.

Output

ptop

If you're coming from htop or some other top variant, here's what to expect from ptop, with explanations below the screenshot:

|ptop screenshot|

• Note the core count right next to the system load number, for easy comparison.
• Note the load history graph next to the load numbers. On this system the load has been high for the last 15 minutes. This is a visualization of the numbers you get from uptime.
• Note the bars showing which programs / users are using your memory below the memory numbers
• Note the IO Load number, showing which IO device had the highest average throughput since ptop launched.
• Note how the default sort order of CPUTIME-since-ptop-started makes the display mostly stable and enables you to sort by CPU usage.
• Note that binaries launched while ptop is running are listed at the bottom of the display.
• Note how the Python program on the second to last line is shown as run_adapter.py (the program) rather than python3 (the runtime). This support is available for many VMs_ like Java, Node, ...
• Selecting a process with Enter will offer you to see detailed information about that process, in $PAGER, moor_ or less. Or to kill it.
• After you press q to quit, the display is retained and some lines at the bottom are removed to prevent the information you want from scrolling out of view.
• A help text on the bottom hints you how to search / filter (interactively), change sort order or how to pick processes for further inspection or killing.

pxtree

|pxtree screenshot|

• Note how search hits are highlighted in bold
• Note how PIDs (process IDs) are printed by default
• Note how multiple processes with the same names are coalesced and printed with the count in parentheses
• Note how the process names make sense (lsp_server.py rather than python3)

px

Running just px lists all running processes, with the most interesting ones last. Output truncated for brevity.

::

PID COMMAND USERNAME CPU CPUTIME RAM COMMANDLINE 0 kernel root -- -- -- kernel PID 0 273 SandboxHelper _coreaudiod 0% 0.01s 0% /System/Library/Frameworks/AudioToolbox.framework/XPCServices/com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper 596 installerdiagd root 0% 0.01s 0% /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/InstallerDiagnostics.framework/Versions/A/Resources/installerdiagd 983 periodic-wrapper root 0% 0.01s 0% /usr/libexec/periodic-wrapper daily ... 57417 Google Chrome Helper johan 0% 1m03s 2% /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/Versions/70.0.3538.102/Google Chrome Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome Helper --type=renderer --field-trial-handle=5536258455526146518,14669732848005555331,131072 --service-pipe-token=7224348701576210538 --lang=sv --metrics-client-id=576E1A60-CA59-34F4-6C0C-57F64BD5F01C --enable-offline-auto-reload --enable-offline-auto-reload-visible-only --num-raster-threads=4 --enable-zero-copy --enable-gpu-memory-buffer-compositor-resources --enable-main-frame-before-activation --service-request-channel-token=7224348701576210538 --renderer-client-id=1119 --no-v8-untrusted-code-mitigations --seatbelt-client=418 14983 studio johan 0% 1h22m 14% /Applications/Android Studio.app/Contents/MacOS/studio 57993 kcm root 0% 0.02s 0% /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Heimdal.framework/Helpers/kcm --launchd 57602 Code Helper johan 0% 12.73s 2% /private/var/folders/cg/d7qzk4s13s9c8t49t3txdjpr0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/B5DDDD81-5A91-4961-B18B-20DAB3925EB0/d/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper --type=renderer --js-flags=--nolazy --no-sandbox --primordial-pipe-token=570B948A976AACDA8EBB532E5680C83E --lang=sv --app-path=/private/var/folders/cg/d7qzk4s13s9c8t49t3txdjpr0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/B5DDDD81-5A91-4961-B18B-20DAB3925EB0/d/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app --node-integration=true --webview-tag=true --no-sandbox --background-color=#171717 --disable-blink-features=Auxclick --enable-pinch --num-raster-threads=4 --enable-zero-copy --enable-gpu-memory-buffer-compositor-resources --enable-main-frame-before-activation --content-image-texture-target=0,0,3553;0,1,3553;0,2,3553;0,3,3553;0,4,3553;0,5,3553;0,6,3553;0,7,3553;0,8,3553;0,9,3553;0,10,34037;0,11,34037;0,12,34037;0,13,3553;0,14,3553;0,15,3553;1,0,3553;1,1,3553;1,2,3553;1,3,3553;1,4,3553;1,5,3553;1,6,3553;1,7,3553;1,8,3553;1,9,3553;1,10,34037;1,11,34037;1,12,34037;1,13,3553;1,14,3553;1,15,3553;2,0,3553;2,1,3553;2,2,3553;2,3,3553;2,4,3553;2,5,3553;2,6,3553;2,7,3553;2,8,3553;2,9,3553;2,10,34037;2,11,34037;2,12,34037;2,13,3553;2,14,3553;2,15,3553;3,0,3553;3,1,3553;3,2,3553;3,3,3553;3,4,3553;3,5,34037;3,6,3553;3,7,3553;3,8,3553;3,9,3553;3,10,3553;3,11,3553;3,12,34037;3,13,3553;3,14,34037;3,15,34037;4,0,3553;4,1,3553;4,2,3553;4,3,3553;4,4,3553;4,5,34037;4,6,3553;4,7,3553;4,8,3553;4,9,3553;4,10,3553;4,11,3553;4,12,34037;4,13,3553;4,14,34037;4,15,34037 --service-request-channel-token=570B948A976AACDA8EBB532E5680C83E --renderer-client-id=110 57996 cat johan 0% 0.0s 0% cat 57745 GradleDaemon johan 0% 32.75s 3% /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_60.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java -Xmx1536m -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -Duser.country=SE -Duser.language=sv -Duser.variant -cp /Users/johan/.gradle/wrapper/dists/gradle-4.6-all/bcst21l2brirad8k2ben1letg/gradle-4.6/lib/gradle-launcher-4.6.jar org.gradle.launcher.daemon.bootstrap.GradleDaemon 4.6

• To give you the most interesting processes close to your next prompt, px puts last in its output processes that:

  • Have been started recently (can be seen in the list as high PIDs)

  • Are using lots of memory

  • Have used lots of CPU time

• Java processes are presented as their main class (GradleDaemon) rather than as their executable (java). This support is available for many VMs_.

px java

This lists all Java processes. Note how they are presented as their main class (GradleDaemon) rather than as their executable (java). This support is available for many VMs_.

::

PID COMMAND USERNAME CPU CPUTIME RAM COMMANDLINE 57745 GradleDaemon johan 0% 35.09s 3% /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_60.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java -Xmx1536m -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -Duser.country=SE -Dus

px _coreaudiod

This lists all processes owned by the _coreaudiod user.

::

PID COMMAND USERNAME CPU CPUTIME RAM COMMANDLINE 273 SandboxHelper _coreaudiod 0% 0.01s 0% /System/Library/Frameworks/AudioToolbox.framework/XPCServices/com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper 190 DriverHelper _coreaudiod 0% 0.3s 0% /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreAudio.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com.apple.audio.DriverHelper.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.audio.DriverHelper 182 coreaudiod _coreaudiod 0% 11m28s 0% /usr/sbin/coreaudiod

sudo px 80727

This shows detailed info about PID 80727.

::

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_60.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java -Xmx1536M -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -Duser.country=SE -Duser.language=sv -Duser.variant -cp /Users/johan/.gradle/wrapper/dists/gradle-3.5-all/7s64ktr9gh78lhv83n6m1hq9u6/gradle-3.5/lib/gradle-launcher-3.5.jar org.gradle.launcher.daemon.bootstrap.GradleDaemon 3.5

kernel(0) root launchd(1) root --> GradleDaemon(80727) johan

31m33s ago GradleDaemon was started, at 2017-06-18T13:47:53+02:00. 7.6% has been its average CPU usage since then, or 2m22s/31m33s

Other processes started close to GradleDaemon(80727): -fish(80678) was started 9.0s before GradleDaemon(80727) iTerm2(80676) was started 9.0s before GradleDaemon(80727) login(80677) was started 9.0s before GradleDaemon(80727) mdworker(80729) was started just after GradleDaemon(80727) mdworker(80776) was started 21.0s after GradleDaemon(80727)

Users logged in when GradleDaemon(80727) started: _mbsetupuser johan

2017-06-18T14:19:26.521988: Now invoking lsof, this can take over a minute on a big system... 2017-06-18T14:19:27.070396: lsof done, proceeding.

Others sharing this process' working directory (/) Working directory too common, never mind.

File descriptors: stdin : [PIPE] <not connected> (0x17d7619d3ae04819) stdout: [CHR] /dev/null stderr: [CHR] /dev/null

Network connections: [IPv6] *:56789 (LISTEN) [IPv6] *:62498 (LISTEN)

Inter Process Communication: mDNSResponder(201): [unix] ->0xe32cbd7be6021f1f

For a list of all open files, do "sudo lsof -p 80727", or "sudo watch lsof -p 80727" for a live view.

• The command line has been split with one argument per line. This makes long command lines readable.
• The process tree shows how the Gradle Daemon relates to other processes.
• Details on how long ago Gradle Daemon was started, and how much CPU it has been using since.
• A list of other proc