63,535 pts.
 Linux top command output (meaning of %id in cpu states)
Hello. I have not been able to find the meaning of the %id column of the CPU states section of the Linux top command. It is in the summary area. Man page for 'top' mention all other columns but this. I have read in the web that some people 'guess' it means IDLE, but I'm not sure. Could you please clarify this for me? Thank you in advance. cadlg

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ASKED: July 3, 2008  2:54 PM
UPDATED: April 18, 2013  2:27 PM

Answer Wiki:
%id <b>is</b> percent idle. For instance: <pre> Cpu(s): 1.0%us, 0.7%sy, 0.0%ni, 97.3%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 1.0%si, 0.0%st </pre> That shows the CPU 97.3% idle. Here's the meaning of each of these (or so I understand... the man page doesn't specifically mention it, so I did a web scouring): 1. us -> User CPU time: The time the CPU has spent running users’ processes that are not niced. 2. sy -> System CPU time: The time the CPU has spent running the kernel and its processes. 3. ni -> Nice CPU time: The time the CPU has spent running users’ proccess that have been niced. 4. wa -> iowait: Amount of time the CPU has been waiting for I/O to complete. 5. hi -> Hardware IRQ: The amount of time the CPU has been servicing hardware interrupts. 6. si -> Software Interrupts.: The amount of time the CPU has been servicing software interrupts. source: http://www.idealwebtools.com/blog/top/
Last Wiki Answer Submitted:  April 18, 2013  2:27 pm  by  Michael Tidmarsh   11,405 pts.
All Answer Wiki Contributors:  Michael Tidmarsh   11,405 pts. , MarkK   645 pts.
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Carlos, %id is just what you found on the web, idle. A small experiment with

cat some.big.input.file > an.output.file

will clarify the question.

 3,120 pts.

 

Hehe, yes. It seems pretty obvious now.

Thank you, Petko.

 63,535 pts.

 

Carlosdl is one of ITKE’s top members! Check out all the questions he has contributed on throughout his time on ITKnowledgeExchange.

 11,405 pts.