How to install htop on Debian Linux using apt-get

Author: Vivek Gite Last updated: April 12, 2021 1 comment

I am a new user of Debian operating system. How do I install htop on Debian using the apt command or apt-get command?

htop is nothing but Interactive process viewer for Debian Linux system. It is just like default top command with an additional set of options and better colorful display on the screen. Very useful for developers and new system users. This page shows how to install htop on Debian using command line options.

Tutorial details
Difficulty level	Easy
Root privileges	Yes
Requirements	Debian 8/9/10/11
Est. reading time	4 minutes

How to install htop on Debian using apt-get

The procedure for installing htop Debian is as follows:

Open the terminal application.
For remote Debian server login using ssh command.
Execute apt search htop command to search for htop on Debian
Run sudo apt install htop to install htop in Debian

Let us see all commands and step-by-step- examples in details.

Please note that admin@ls-debian-10:$ is my shell prompt. You need to type all commands after that prompt.

Debian install htop

It is important that you know how to search for any packages. Therefore type the following command to search for htop package using apt command:
admin@ls-debian-10:$ apt search htop ## OR use the apt-cache command ## admin@ls-debian-10:$ apt-cache search htop

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Find information about htop package

Run the following command:
admin@ls-debian-10:$ apt info htop

Installing htop on Debian

First, make sure you system is up to date and all patches are installed on Debian 10 Linux box and then install htop:
admin@ls-debian-10:$ sudo pkg update && sudo apt upgrade
Finally, run the following to install htop on Debian:
admin@ls-debian-10:$ sudo apt install htop

How to use htop command

The syntax is:
htop htop [options] htop [options] arg1 arg2

Please note that you need to press the F10 or q key to exit from htop session.

Use a monochrome color scheme, run:

admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop -C admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop --no-color

Want to see the tree view by default when running htop? Try:

admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop -t admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop --tree

Let us see only processes of a given user named sayali or tom:
admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop -u sayali admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop -u tom admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop --user=vivek ## see all process owned and run by 'www-data' user on the server ## admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop --user=www-data
Limit and show process for only the given PIDs:
admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop -p PID admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop -p PID1,PID2,PID3 admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop --pid=PID1,[,PID2,PID3,...] admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop -p 4242 admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop -p 1313,1399,6666

Debian htop keyboard shortcut keys

The following commands are supported while in htop interactive mode:

Command	Description
`Up arrow key`	Select (highlight) the previous process in the process list. Scroll the list if necessary.
`Down arrow key`	Select (highlight) the next process in the process list. Scroll the list if necessary.
`Left arrow key`	Scroll the process list left.
`Right arrow key`	Scroll the process list right.
`PgUp, PgDn`	Scroll the process list up or down one window.
`Home`	Scroll to the top of the process list and select the first process.
`End`	Scroll to the bottom of the process list and select the last process.
`s`	Trace process system calls: if strace(1) is installed, pressing this key will attach it to the currently selected process, presenting a live update of system calls issued by the process.
`l`	Display open files for a process: if lsof(1) is installed, pressing this key will display the list of file descriptors opened by the process.

Other keyboard shortcuts

`u`	Show only processes owned by a specified user.
`M`	Sort by memory usage (top compatibility key).
`P`	Sort by processor usage (top compatibility key).
`T`	Sort by time (top compatibility key).
`F`	“Follow” process: if the sort order causes the currently selected process to move in the list, make the selection bar follow it. This is useful for monitoring a process: this way, you can keep a process always visible on screen. When a movement key is used, “follow” loses effect.
`K`	Hide kernel threads: prevent the threads belonging the kernel to be displayed in the process list. (This is a toggle key.)
`H`	Hide user threads: on systems that represent them differently than ordinary processes (such as recent NPTL-based systems), this can hide threads from userspace processes in the process list. (This is a toggle key.)
`p`	Show full paths to running programs, where applicable. (This is a toggle key.)
`Ctrl-L`	Refresh the screen.
`F1`	See this help menu.

How to get help about htop

Simply pass the --help option. For example:
admin@ls-debian-10:$ htop --help admin@ls-debian-10:$ man htop

Conclusion

In this quick tutorial, we explained how to install and use htop on Debian Linux server. It has many more option. Hence, see the htop home page online here or read man page.

This entry is 12 of 13 in the htop Tutorial series. Keep reading the rest of the series:

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