How to Get Memory Usage For A Pid In A Variable Using Bash?

9 minutes read

To get memory usage for a specific process ID (PID) in a variable using bash, you can use the following command:

1
mem_usage=$(ps -p $PID -o %mem | awk 'NR==2 {print $1}')


Replace $PID with the process ID for which you want to get the memory usage. This command uses the ps command to show information about processes, the -p flag to specify the process ID, the -o %mem flag to display the memory usage in percentage, and awk to extract and store the memory usage in a variable called mem_usage.

Best Linux Books to Read in 2024

1
Linux Bible

Rating is 5 out of 5

Linux Bible

2
Practical Linux Forensics: A Guide for Digital Investigators

Rating is 4.9 out of 5

Practical Linux Forensics: A Guide for Digital Investigators

3
The Linux Command Line, 2nd Edition: A Complete Introduction

Rating is 4.8 out of 5

The Linux Command Line, 2nd Edition: A Complete Introduction

4
How Linux Works, 3rd Edition: What Every Superuser Should Know

Rating is 4.7 out of 5

How Linux Works, 3rd Edition: What Every Superuser Should Know

5
CompTIA Linux+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Second Edition (Exam XK0-005)

Rating is 4.6 out of 5

CompTIA Linux+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Second Edition (Exam XK0-005)

6
CompTIA Linux+ Study Guide: Exam XK0-005 (Sybex Study Guide)

Rating is 4.5 out of 5

CompTIA Linux+ Study Guide: Exam XK0-005 (Sybex Study Guide)


How to graph memory usage of a process using Bash plotting libraries?

There are several Bash plotting libraries that can be used to graph memory usage of a process. One popular option is gnuplot, which can be used to create simple line graphs to visualize memory consumption over time.


Here is an example script that utilizes gnuplot to graph memory usage of a process:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
#!/bin/bash

# Process ID of the target process
PID=1234

# Output file for storing memory usage data
OUTPUT_FILE="memory_usage.dat"

# Command to fetch memory usage of the process
FETCH_MEMORY="ps -p $PID -o %mem --no-headers"

# Interval between data points in seconds
INTERVAL=1

# Number of data points to collect
NUM_POINTS=60

# Start timestamp
START=$(date +%s)

# Create an empty data file
echo "# Timestamp Memory" > $OUTPUT_FILE

# Loop to collect memory usage data
for ((i=1; i<=$NUM_POINTS; i++))
do
    MEMORY=$($FETCH_MEMORY)
    TIMESTAMP=$(date +%s)
    echo "$TIMESTAMP $MEMORY" >> $OUTPUT_FILE
    sleep $INTERVAL
done

# Generate the plot
gnuplot << EOF
set terminal png
set output 'memory_usage_plot.png'
set title 'Memory Usage of Process $PID'
set xlabel 'Time (s)'
set ylabel 'Memory (%)'
set datafile separator ' '
plot '$OUTPUT_FILE' using 1:2 with lines title 'Memory Usage'
EOF


In this script:

  • Replace the PID variable with the process ID of the target process.
  • Specify the INTERVAL and NUM_POINTS variables to control the frequency and duration of data collection.
  • The script collects memory usage data using the ps command and saves it to a data file (memory_usage.dat).
  • The gnuplot commands generate a line graph from the data file and save it as memory_usage_plot.png.


Run the script in a Bash terminal to see the memory usage graph of the specified process. The resulting graph will show the memory consumption of the process over time.


How to get detailed memory usage statistics for a specific process in bash?

You can use the "ps" command in combination with other commands to get detailed memory usage statistics for a specific process in bash. Here's how you can do it:

  1. First, find the PID (Process ID) of the process you want to get memory usage statistics for. You can do this by using the "ps aux" command and grepping for the process name. For example, if you want to find the PID of a process named "myprocess", you can use the following command:
1
ps aux | grep myprocess


  1. Once you have the PID of the process, you can use the "pmap" command to get detailed memory statistics for that process. Simply replace "PID" with the actual PID of the process you want to monitor. For example:
1
pmap -x PID


This command will show you a detailed breakdown of memory usage for the specified process, including the total memory usage, shared memory, private memory, and more.


Alternatively, you can also use the "smem" command to get memory usage statistics for a specific process. You can use the following command to view memory usage for a specific process by specifying the PID:

1
smem -p PID


This command will display memory usage statistics for the specified process, including RSS (Resident Set Size), PSS (Proportional Set Size), Shared memory, and Private memory.


How to check memory usage of a process and its child processes in bash?

You can use the ps command along with the h flag to check the memory usage of a specific process and its child processes in bash.


Here is a command you can use to check the memory usage of a process and its child processes:

1
ps h -o pid --ppid <PID> | xargs ps u


Replace <PID> with the process ID of the parent process you want to check the memory usage for. This command will list the memory usage of the parent process and all its child processes.


What is the recommended threshold for memory usage before considering optimization?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question as the recommended threshold for memory usage before considering optimization can vary depending on the specific requirements of your application and the available hardware resources.


However, a common rule of thumb is to consider optimization when memory usage is consistently close to or exceeding 80-90% of available memory. This threshold indicates that there may be potential issues with memory management, efficiency, or resource allocation that could benefit from optimization techniques such as improving data structures, reducing memory leaks, or optimizing algorithms.


Ultimately, it is important to closely monitor memory usage and performance metrics for your application to determine when optimization is necessary to ensure optimal performance and resource utilization.


What is the algorithm used to calculate memory usage statistics in Linux?

The algorithm used to calculate memory usage statistics in Linux is based on the information provided by the kernel's /proc filesystem. The kernel keeps track of various memory statistics, such as total available memory, memory usage by processes, cache and buffer memory usage, and swap space usage.


When calculating memory usage statistics, Linux takes into consideration the following memory metrics:

  1. Total memory - total physical memory available to the system
  2. Free memory - amount of memory not currently in use
  3. Used memory - total memory used by processes and the kernel
  4. Cached memory - memory used for caching disk data
  5. Buffer memory - memory used for temporary storage of data
  6. Swap memory - amount of memory swapped to disk


The calculation of memory usage statistics may vary slightly depending on the specific tool or command used to retrieve the information, such as free, top, or vmstat. Overall, these tools collect information from the /proc filesystem and analyze it to provide a comprehensive view of memory usage on the system.


How to display memory usage of a process in a human-readable format using bash?

You can display the memory usage of a process in a human-readable format using the following command in bash:

1
ps -p <PID> -o %mem


Replace <PID> with the process ID of the process whose memory usage you want to display.


This command will show the memory usage of the specified process in percentage format. If you want to display the memory usage in a more human-readable format, you can use the awk command to convert the output into gigabytes. Here's an example:

1
ps -p <PID> -o %mem | awk 'NR==2{print $1, "%"; printf "Memory Usage: %.2fGB\n", $1/100*$(free -m | awk '/Mem:/ {print $2}') }'


This command will display the memory usage of the process in percentage and also in gigabytes.

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Telegram Whatsapp Pocket

Related Posts:

To find the memory usage difference in Grafana, you can follow these steps:Open Grafana and navigate to the dashboard that displays the relevant memory usage data. Locate the memory usage metric you want to analyze. This could be metrics such as memory usage i...
To pass a seconds variable from bash to Perl, you can use command line arguments. In your bash script, you can call the Perl script and pass the seconds variable as an argument. For example:Bash script: #!/bin/bash seconds=60 perl script.pl $seconds Perl scri...
To monitor Redis memory usage, you can use the following commands:Use the INFO command to get general information about the Redis server, including memory usage metrics such as used_memory, used_memory_rss, and used_memory_peak.Monitor the memory usage over ti...
To kill a process in Bash, you can use the kill command followed by the process ID (PID) of the process you want to terminate. Here&#39;s how to do it:First, you need to identify the PID of the process you want to kill. To do this, you can use the ps command t...
To use any bash command in a bash function, you simply need to define the desired command within the function block. You can include any valid bash command or series of commands within the function. For example, you can create a function that checks for the ex...
Debugging a memory leak in Python with CherryPy and PyTorch involves identifying and resolving issues that cause excessive memory usage. Here&#39;s a general overview of the process:Understand memory leaks: A memory leak occurs when memory is allocated but not...