Limit the Unix top command's columns via args

[MikeG0]

Uhg. I'm pretty sure this is super simple, but I've searched and searched and for the life of me I can't find any info on how to limit the columns that display in the interactive top program with arguments passed from the command line. I recall seeing something formatted like this ...

~/top -f (kdx)

which would only show the %CPU, UID, program name fields/columns.

I'd like to display the results in a really narrow terminal window on the right side of my desktop.

TIA,

MikeG0

[Rubberman]

What distribution+version of Linux/Unix are you running? Not all tops are the same.

[MikeG0]

Ubuntu 10.04

[Rubberman]

This is from the top man page on my CentOS/RHEL 5.4 system:

   2b. SELECTING and ORDERING Columns
       After pressing the interactive commands ’f’ (Fields select) or ´o’ (Order fields)
       you will be shown a screen containing the current fields string followed by names
       and descriptions for all fields.

       Here is a sample fields string from one of top’s four windows/field groups and an
       explanation of the conventions used:

       -  Sample fields string:
             ANOPQRSTUVXbcdefgjlmyzWHIK

       -  The order of displayed fields corresponds to the order of the letters in  that
          string.

       -  If  the letter is upper case the corresponding field itself will then be shown
          as part of the task display (screen width  permitting).   This  will  also  be
          indicated by a leading asterisk (’*’), as in this excerpt:
              ...
              * K: %CPU       = CPU usage
                l: TIME       = CPU Time
                m: TIME+      = CPU Time, hundredths
              * N: %MEM       = Memory usage (RES)
              * O: VIRT       = Virtual Image (kb)
              ...

       Fields select screen  --  the ’f’ interactive command
          You toggle the display of a field by simply pressing the corresponding letter.

       Order fields screen  --  the ’o’ interactive command
          You move a field to the left by pressing the corresponding upper  case  letter
          and to the right with the lower case letter.

[MikeG0]

Thanks, but I read the man pages ... I need to format the columns with top startup args.

I can't find any info on how to limit the columns that display in the interactive top program with arguments passed from the command line.

[Rubberman]

Thanks, but I read the man pages ... I need to format the columns with top startup args.

I don't know if you can from the command line, but you might be able to script it and redirect the input characters needed to simulate user input from stdin. Example:

top <<EOF
fAbc
EOF

Ok. Tried that. Won't work. Get the error "top: failed tty get". Apparently it needs a real tty device to work. Oh well... sigh. I'll reply again if I have any better luck. Sorry.