htop – Interactive Process Viewer for Linux

What is htop?

htop is an interactive system-monitor, process-viewer, and process-manager designed for Unix-like operating systems. Unlike the traditional top command, htop provides a more user-friendly interface with color-coded output, mouse support, and the ability to scroll both vertically and horizontally to view all processes and complete command lines.

Originally developed by Hisham Muhammad in 2004, htop has become one of the most popular system monitoring tools in the Linux ecosystem, preferred by system administrators and developers worldwide for its intuitive interface and powerful features.

Key Features

• Color-coded display: Easily distinguish between different process states, CPU usage levels, and memory consumption at a glance
• Mouse support: Click to select processes, scroll through the process list, and interact with the interface
• Horizontal and vertical scrolling: View complete command lines and navigate through all running processes
• Tree view: Visualize parent-child process relationships in a hierarchical structure
• Process filtering: Search and filter processes by name, user, or other criteria
• Process management: Send signals (kill, terminate, stop) to processes directly from the interface
• Customizable meters: Configure CPU, memory, and swap meters to display information your way
• Multiple CPU cores display: Monitor individual CPU core usage separately

System Requirements

• Linux kernel 2.6 or later
• ncurses library
• Minimal system resources (runs efficiently on older hardware)

Installation Guide

debian">Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt install htop

rhel-fedora">CentOS/RHEL/Fedora

sudo dnf install htop

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S htop

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/htop-dev/htop.git
cd htop
./autogen.sh
./configure
make
sudo make install

Usage Examples

Basic Usage

Simply run htop in your terminal:

htop

Filter by User

Display only processes owned by a specific user:

htop -u username

Sort by Memory Usage

Start htop with processes sorted by memory consumption:

htop --sort-key=PERCENT_MEM

Tree View Mode

Launch htop in tree view to see process hierarchy:

htop -t

Keyboard Shortcuts

Why Choose htop Over top?

While the traditional top command is available on virtually every Unix-like system, htop offers several advantages that make it the preferred choice for many users:

• More intuitive and visually appealing interface
• No need to type PIDs manually to kill processes
• Easier to understand CPU and memory usage visualization
• Better support for modern multi-core systems
• Customizable layout and display options

Download

htop is open-source software released under the GPL-2.0 license. Download the latest version from the official repository:

Download htop

Latest Version: 3.3.0
License: GPL-2.0
Developer: htop-dev team