How do I check free and used memory on Debian Linux system using the command line option?

Random Access Memory (RAM) is the memory in the computer that is used to store running process and data. RAM provides faster data access as compared to the disk drive. This page shows how to find out the amount of free and used memory in the Debian Linux system.

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Check memory Debian Linux

The procedure to check memory is as follows:

1. Open the terminal app or login to the remote Debian server using ssh command:
   ssh user@server-name-here
2. Type the free command to see memory in mebibytes:
   free -m
3. You can also /proc/meminfo:
   cat /pro/meminfo

Let us see all commands to check memory usage on Debian Linux cloud or bare metal server.

1. free command

Display the amount of memory in bytes:
free -b
Show the amount of memory in mebibytes:
free -m
Get the amount of memory in megabytes:
free --mega
Find the amount of memory in gibibyte:
free -g
Want to see the amount of memory in gigabytes? Pass --giga option as follows:
free --giga
Pass the -t option to get totals info about memory:
free --giga -t

2. /proc/meminfo

Use cat command as follows:
cat /proc/meminfo

3. top command

Just type top command:
top

4. vmstat command

To get report about virtual memory statistics on Debian Linux, run:
vmstat
vmstat 2 5
vmstat -a

Understanding memory output of vmstat

• swpd: the amount of virtual memory used.
• free: the amount of idle memory.
• buff: the amount of memory used as buffers.
• cache: the amount of memory used as cache.
• inact: the amount of inactive memory. (-a option)
• active: the amount of active memory. (-a option)

htop command

Install htop using apt command/apt-get command:
sudo apt install htop
Now run it:
htop