Quick Tip

Master Process Monitoring with `ps` and `awk`

Challenge: The default output of the `ps` command can be overwhelmingly verbose, making it difficult to quickly identify specific processes or extract relevant information like CPU/memory usage for a particular user or command.

The Solution: Combine `ps` with `awk` to filter and format the output for targeted process monitoring.

ps aux | awk '$1 == "your_username" { print $0 }'

Why it works: `ps aux` lists all running processes with detailed information. `awk ‘$1 == “your_username” { print $0 }’` then filters this output, printing only the lines where the first field (the username) matches “your_username”. This allows for precise filtering of processes belonging to a specific user.

Pro-Tip: To further customize the output, you can specify which fields you want `awk` to print, e.g., `ps aux | awk ‘$1 == “your_username” { print $2, $4, $11 }’` to show PID, %CPU, and COMMAND.

Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 6/11/2026