How can I measure the actual memory usage of an application or process?

Question

This question is covered here in great detail.

How do you measure the memory usage of an application or process in Linux?

From the blog articl

Answer 1

ps -eo size,pid,user,command --sort -size | \
    awk '{ hr=$1/1024 ; printf("%13.2f Mb ",hr) } { for ( x=4 ; x<=NF ; x++ ) { printf("%s ",$x) } print "" }' |\
    cut -d "" -f2 | cut -d "-" -f1

Use this as root and you can get a clear output for memory usage by each process.

OUTPUT EXAMPLE:

     0.00 Mb COMMAND 
  1288.57 Mb /usr/lib/firefox
   821.68 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   762.82 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   588.36 Mb /usr/sbin/mysqld 
   547.55 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   523.92 Mb /usr/lib/tracker/tracker
   476.59 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   446.41 Mb /usr/bin/gnome
   421.62 Mb /usr/sbin/libvirtd 
   405.11 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   302.60 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   291.46 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   284.56 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   238.93 Mb /usr/lib/tracker/tracker
   223.21 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   197.99 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   194.07 Mb conky 
   191.92 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   190.72 Mb /usr/bin/mongod 
   169.06 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   155.11 Mb /usr/bin/gnome
   136.02 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   125.98 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
   103.98 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
    93.22 Mb /usr/lib/tracker/tracker
    89.21 Mb /usr/lib/gnome
    80.61 Mb /usr/bin/gnome
    77.73 Mb /usr/lib/evolution/evolution
    76.09 Mb /usr/lib/evolution/evolution
    72.21 Mb /usr/lib/gnome
    69.40 Mb /usr/lib/evolution/evolution
    68.84 Mb nautilus
    68.08 Mb zeitgeist
    60.97 Mb /usr/lib/tracker/tracker
    59.65 Mb /usr/lib/evolution/evolution
    57.68 Mb apt
    55.23 Mb /usr/lib/gnome
    53.61 Mb /usr/lib/evolution/evolution
    53.07 Mb /usr/lib/gnome
    52.83 Mb /usr/lib/gnome
    51.02 Mb /usr/lib/udisks2/udisksd 
    50.77 Mb /usr/lib/evolution/evolution
    50.53 Mb /usr/lib/gnome
    50.45 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs
    50.36 Mb /usr/lib/packagekit/packagekitd 
    50.14 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs
    48.95 Mb /usr/bin/Xwayland :1024 
    46.21 Mb /usr/bin/gnome
    42.43 Mb /usr/bin/zeitgeist
    42.29 Mb /usr/lib/gnome
    41.97 Mb /usr/lib/gnome
    41.64 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd
    41.63 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd
    41.55 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd
    41.48 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd
    39.87 Mb /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/chrome
    37.45 Mb /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg vt2 
    36.62 Mb /usr/sbin/NetworkManager 
    35.63 Mb /usr/lib/caribou/caribou 
    34.79 Mb /usr/lib/tracker/tracker
    33.88 Mb /usr/sbin/ModemManager 
    33.77 Mb /usr/lib/gnome
    33.61 Mb /usr/lib/upower/upowerd 
    33.53 Mb /usr/sbin/gdm3 
    33.37 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd
    33.36 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs
    33.23 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs
    33.15 Mb /usr/lib/at
    33.15 Mb /usr/lib/at
    30.03 Mb /usr/lib/colord/colord 
    29.62 Mb /usr/lib/apt/methods/https 
    28.06 Mb /usr/lib/zeitgeist/zeitgeist
    27.29 Mb /usr/lib/policykit
    25.55 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs
    25.55 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs
    25.23 Mb /usr/lib/accountsservice/accounts
    25.18 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd 
    25.15 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs
    25.15 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs
    25.12 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs
    25.10 Mb /usr/lib/gnome
    25.10 Mb /usr/lib/gnome
    25.07 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd 
    24.99 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfs
    23.26 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
    22.09 Mb /usr/bin/pulseaudio 
    19.01 Mb /usr/bin/pulseaudio 
    18.62 Mb (sd
    18.46 Mb (sd
    18.30 Mb /sbin/init 
    18.17 Mb /usr/sbin/rsyslogd 
    17.50 Mb gdm
    17.42 Mb gdm
    17.09 Mb /usr/lib/dconf/dconf
    17.09 Mb /usr/lib/at
    17.06 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd
    16.98 Mb /usr/lib/at
    16.91 Mb /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm
    16.86 Mb /usr/lib/gvfs/gvfsd
    16.86 Mb /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm
    16.85 Mb /usr/lib/dconf/dconf
    16.85 Mb /usr/lib/dconf/dconf
    16.73 Mb /usr/lib/rtkit/rtkit
    16.69 Mb /lib/systemd/systemd
    13.13 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
    13.13 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chromium 
    10.92 Mb anydesk 
     8.54 Mb /sbin/lvmetad 
     7.43 Mb /usr/sbin/apache2 
     6.82 Mb /usr/sbin/apache2 
     6.77 Mb /usr/sbin/apache2 
     6.73 Mb /usr/sbin/apache2 
     6.66 Mb /usr/sbin/apache2 
     6.64 Mb /usr/sbin/apache2 
     6.63 Mb /usr/sbin/apache2 
     6.62 Mb /usr/sbin/apache2 
     6.51 Mb /usr/sbin/apache2 
     6.25 Mb /usr/sbin/apache2 
     6.22 Mb /usr/sbin/apache2 
     3.92 Mb bash 
     3.14 Mb bash 
     2.97 Mb bash 
     2.95 Mb bash 
     2.93 Mb bash 
     2.91 Mb bash 
     2.86 Mb bash 
     2.86 Mb bash 
     2.86 Mb bash 
     2.84 Mb bash 
     2.84 Mb bash 
     2.45 Mb /lib/systemd/systemd
     2.30 Mb (sd
     2.28 Mb /usr/bin/dbus
     1.84 Mb /usr/bin/dbus
     1.46 Mb ps 
     1.21 Mb openvpn hackthebox.ovpn 
     1.16 Mb /sbin/dhclient 
     1.16 Mb /sbin/dhclient 
     1.09 Mb /lib/systemd/systemd 
     0.98 Mb /sbin/mount.ntfs /dev/sda3 /media/n0bit4/Data 
     0.97 Mb /lib/systemd/systemd 
     0.96 Mb /lib/systemd/systemd 
     0.89 Mb /usr/sbin/smartd 
     0.77 Mb /usr/bin/dbus
     0.76 Mb su 
     0.76 Mb su 
     0.76 Mb su 
     0.76 Mb su 
     0.76 Mb su 
     0.76 Mb su 
     0.75 Mb sudo su 
     0.75 Mb sudo su 
     0.75 Mb sudo su 
     0.75 Mb sudo su 
     0.75 Mb sudo su 
     0.75 Mb sudo su 
     0.74 Mb /usr/bin/dbus
     0.71 Mb /usr/lib/apt/methods/http 
     0.68 Mb /bin/bash /usr/bin/mysqld_safe 
     0.68 Mb /sbin/wpa_supplicant 
     0.66 Mb /usr/bin/dbus
     0.61 Mb /lib/systemd/systemd
     0.54 Mb /usr/bin/dbus
     0.46 Mb /usr/sbin/cron 
     0.45 Mb /usr/sbin/irqbalance 
     0.43 Mb logger 
     0.41 Mb awk { hr=$1/1024 ; printf("%13.2f Mb ",hr) } { for ( x=4 ; x<=NF ; x++ ) { printf("%s ",$x) } print "" } 
     0.40 Mb /usr/bin/ssh
     0.34 Mb /usr/lib/chromium/chrome
     0.32 Mb cut 
     0.32 Mb cut 
     0.00 Mb [kthreadd] 
     0.00 Mb [ksoftirqd/0] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/0:0H] 
     0.00 Mb [rcu_sched] 
     0.00 Mb [rcu_bh] 
     0.00 Mb [migration/0] 
     0.00 Mb [lru
     0.00 Mb [watchdog/0] 
     0.00 Mb [cpuhp/0] 
     0.00 Mb [cpuhp/1] 
     0.00 Mb [watchdog/1] 
     0.00 Mb [migration/1] 
     0.00 Mb [ksoftirqd/1] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/1:0H] 
     0.00 Mb [cpuhp/2] 
     0.00 Mb [watchdog/2] 
     0.00 Mb [migration/2] 
     0.00 Mb [ksoftirqd/2] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/2:0H] 
     0.00 Mb [cpuhp/3] 
     0.00 Mb [watchdog/3] 
     0.00 Mb [migration/3] 
     0.00 Mb [ksoftirqd/3] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/3:0H] 
     0.00 Mb [kdevtmpfs] 
     0.00 Mb [netns] 
     0.00 Mb [khungtaskd] 
     0.00 Mb [oom_reaper] 
     0.00 Mb [writeback] 
     0.00 Mb [kcompactd0] 
     0.00 Mb [ksmd] 
     0.00 Mb [khugepaged] 
     0.00 Mb [crypto] 
     0.00 Mb [kintegrityd] 
     0.00 Mb [bioset] 
     0.00 Mb [kblockd] 
     0.00 Mb [devfreq_wq] 
     0.00 Mb [watchdogd] 
     0.00 Mb [kswapd0] 
     0.00 Mb [vmstat] 
     0.00 Mb [kthrotld] 
     0.00 Mb [ipv6_addrconf] 
     0.00 Mb [acpi_thermal_pm] 
     0.00 Mb [ata_sff] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_eh_0] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_tmf_0] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_eh_1] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_tmf_1] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_eh_2] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_tmf_2] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_eh_3] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_tmf_3] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_eh_4] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_tmf_4] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_eh_5] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_tmf_5] 
     0.00 Mb [bioset] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/1:1H] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/3:1H] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/0:1H] 
     0.00 Mb [kdmflush] 
     0.00 Mb [bioset] 
     0.00 Mb [kdmflush] 
     0.00 Mb [bioset] 
     0.00 Mb [jbd2/sda5
     0.00 Mb [ext4
     0.00 Mb [kworker/2:1H] 
     0.00 Mb [kauditd] 
     0.00 Mb [bioset] 
     0.00 Mb [drbd
     0.00 Mb [irq/27
     0.00 Mb [i915/signal:0] 
     0.00 Mb [i915/signal:1] 
     0.00 Mb [i915/signal:2] 
     0.00 Mb [ttm_swap] 
     0.00 Mb [cfg80211] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/u17:0] 
     0.00 Mb [hci0] 
     0.00 Mb [hci0] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/u17:1] 
     0.00 Mb [iprt
     0.00 Mb [iprt
     0.00 Mb [kworker/1:0] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/3:0] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/0:0] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/2:0] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/u16:0] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/u16:2] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/3:2] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/2:1] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/1:2] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/0:2] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/2:2] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/0:1] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_eh_6] 
     0.00 Mb [scsi_tmf_6] 
     0.00 Mb [usb
     0.00 Mb [bioset] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/3:1] 
     0.00 Mb [kworker/u16:1]