psutil

Cross-platform lib for process and system monitoring in Python

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Quick Overview

psutil (Python System and Process Utilities) is a cross-platform library for retrieving information on running processes and system utilization (CPU, memory, disks, network, sensors) in Python. It is useful for system monitoring, profiling, limiting process resources, and managing running processes.

Pros

Cross-platform compatibility (Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Sun Solaris, AIX)
Extensive system and process information retrieval capabilities
Easy-to-use API with Pythonic interface
Actively maintained with regular updates and improvements

Cons

Some advanced features may require elevated privileges
Performance can be impacted when dealing with a large number of processes
Occasional discrepancies in reported values due to differences in underlying OS implementations
Limited support for some less common operating systems

Code Examples

Getting CPU usage percentage:

import psutil

cpu_percent = psutil.cpu_percent(interval=1)
print(f"CPU usage: {cpu_percent}%")

Listing all running processes:

import psutil

for proc in psutil.process_iter(['pid', 'name', 'username']):
    print(proc.info)

Getting memory usage information:

import psutil

memory = psutil.virtual_memory()
print(f"Total memory: {memory.total / (1024 * 1024):.2f} MB")
print(f"Available memory: {memory.available / (1024 * 1024):.2f} MB")
print(f"Memory usage: {memory.percent}%")

Monitoring disk usage:

import psutil

disk = psutil.disk_usage('/')
print(f"Total disk space: {disk.total / (1024 * 1024 * 1024):.2f} GB")
print(f"Used disk space: {disk.used / (1024 * 1024 * 1024):.2f} GB")
print(f"Free disk space: {disk.free / (1024 * 1024 * 1024):.2f} GB")
print(f"Disk usage: {disk.percent}%")

Getting Started

To get started with psutil, first install it using pip:

pip install psutil

Then, you can import and use psutil in your Python scripts:

import psutil

# Get system-wide CPU usage
cpu_percent = psutil.cpu_percent(interval=1)
print(f"CPU usage: {cpu_percent}%")

# Get memory usage
memory = psutil.virtual_memory()
print(f"Memory usage: {memory.percent}%")

# Get disk usage
disk = psutil.disk_usage('/')
print(f"Disk usage: {disk.percent}%")

This basic example demonstrates how to retrieve CPU, memory, and disk usage information using psutil.

Competitor Comparisons

glances

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Glances an Eye on your system. A top/htop alternative for GNU/Linux, BSD, Mac OS and Windows operating systems.

Pros of Glances

Provides a user-friendly, curses-based interface for system monitoring
Offers a web-based interface for remote monitoring
Includes built-in alert system and export capabilities

Cons of Glances

More resource-intensive due to its comprehensive interface
Less flexible for integration into custom scripts or applications
Steeper learning curve for customization and extension

Code Comparison

Psutil (retrieving CPU usage):

import psutil
cpu_percent = psutil.cpu_percent(interval=1)
print(f"CPU usage: {cpu_percent}%")

Glances (retrieving CPU usage):

from glances_api import GlancesApi
client = GlancesApi(url='http://localhost:61208')
cpu_percent = client.getCpu()['total']
print(f"CPU usage: {cpu_percent}%")

Summary

Psutil is a lightweight, versatile library for accessing system information, ideal for integration into custom scripts and applications. Glances, built on top of Psutil, provides a more comprehensive, user-friendly monitoring solution with additional features like a web interface and alerting system. While Glances offers a more complete out-of-the-box monitoring experience, Psutil provides greater flexibility and efficiency for developers needing direct access to system metrics.

htop

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htop is an interactive text-mode process viewer for Unix systems. It aims to be a better 'top'.

Pros of htop

Interactive and user-friendly terminal-based interface
Real-time system monitoring with colorful and detailed display
Ability to send signals to processes directly from the interface

Cons of htop

Limited to Unix-like systems (not cross-platform)
Primarily designed for interactive use, less suitable for scripting or automation
Focused on system monitoring, lacks extensive programmatic access to system information

Code Comparison

htop (C):

void Process_writeCommand(Process* this, int attr) {
    int baseattr = attr;
    RichString_begin(out);
    RichString_appendWide(&out, baseattr, this->comm);
    RichString_end(out);
}

psutil (Python):

def cpu_percent(interval=None, percpu=False):
    if interval is None:
        return _psutil_linux.cpu_percent(percpu)
    else:
        return _psutil_linux.cpu_percent_interval(interval, percpu)

Key Differences

htop is a standalone application, while psutil is a library for system monitoring
htop provides a visual interface, psutil offers programmatic access to system information
htop is written in C, psutil is primarily written in Python with C extensions
psutil is cross-platform, supporting Windows, macOS, and various Unix-like systems
psutil offers more extensive API for accessing detailed system and process information

btop

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A monitor of resources

Pros of btop

Provides a visually appealing and interactive terminal-based resource monitor
Offers customizable themes and layout options for a better user experience
Includes battery and temperature monitoring features

Cons of btop

Limited to system monitoring and visualization, not a general-purpose library
May have higher resource usage due to its graphical interface
Less cross-platform compatibility compared to psutil

Code comparison

psutil:

import psutil

cpu_percent = psutil.cpu_percent()
memory = psutil.virtual_memory()
disk = psutil.disk_usage('/')

btop:

void Cpu::update_cpus() {
    for (auto& [cpu_id, cpu] : cpus) {
        cpu.usage = get_cpu_usage(cpu_id);
    }
}

Summary

psutil is a cross-platform library for retrieving information on running processes and system utilization, while btop is a resource monitor and task manager application with a rich terminal user interface. psutil is more suitable for programmatic system monitoring and automation tasks, whereas btop excels in providing an interactive and visually appealing system monitoring experience for end-users.

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Pros of node_exporter

Designed specifically for Prometheus monitoring ecosystem
Provides a wide range of exporters for various system metrics
Easily integrates with Prometheus for centralized monitoring

Cons of node_exporter

Limited to Linux and Unix-like systems
Requires additional setup and configuration with Prometheus
Less flexible for standalone use or integration with other tools

Code Comparison

node_exporter (Go):

func (c *cpuCollector) Update(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) error {
    times, err := cpu.Times(false)
    if err != nil {
        return err
    }
    for _, t := range times {
        ch <- prometheus.MustNewConstMetric(c.cpu, prometheus.CounterValue, t.User, t.CPU)
    }
    return nil
}

psutil (Python):

def cpu_times(percpu=False):
    ret = []
    for cpu in range(psutil.cpu_count()) if percpu else [None]:
        st = _psutil_windows.cpu_times(cpu)
        ret.append(scputimes(*st))
    return ret[0] if not percpu else ret

Both repositories provide system and process utilities, but node_exporter is tailored for Prometheus monitoring, while psutil offers a more general-purpose library for system information retrieval across multiple platforms.

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Pros of netdata

Provides a comprehensive, real-time monitoring solution with a web-based dashboard
Offers automatic alerting and notification features
Includes built-in visualization and reporting tools

Cons of netdata

Requires more system resources due to its full-featured nature
Has a steeper learning curve for configuration and customization
May be overkill for simple monitoring tasks or resource-constrained environments

Code comparison

netdata (JavaScript):

var netdata = {
    options: { current: {} },
    chartRegistry: {},
    charts: {},
    globals: {
        chart_resolution: 0,
        server_timezone: 'unknown'
    }
};

psutil (Python):

import psutil

cpu_percent = psutil.cpu_percent()
memory = psutil.virtual_memory()
disk = psutil.disk_usage('/')

netdata provides a more comprehensive monitoring solution with a web-based interface, while psutil offers a lightweight, cross-platform library for system and process monitoring. netdata is better suited for full-scale monitoring and visualization, whereas psutil is ideal for programmatic access to system information and integration into custom applications.

osquery

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SQL powered operating system instrumentation, monitoring, and analytics.

Pros of osquery

More comprehensive system information gathering, including network, hardware, and security data
SQL-based querying interface for flexible and powerful data retrieval
Cross-platform support for Windows, macOS, and Linux

Cons of osquery

Heavier resource footprint and more complex setup
Steeper learning curve due to SQL syntax and extensive schema
Less suitable for simple, quick system information retrieval

Code Comparison

osquery:

SELECT * FROM processes WHERE name = 'chrome';

psutil:

import psutil
[p for p in psutil.process_iter() if p.name() == 'chrome']

Key Differences

osquery provides a SQL interface for querying system information, while psutil offers a Python API
osquery is more suited for large-scale system monitoring and security analysis, whereas psutil is better for quick, programmatic access to system resources
psutil is more lightweight and easier to integrate into Python projects, while osquery offers more extensive data collection capabilities

Both tools are valuable for system monitoring and management, but they cater to different use cases and skill levels. osquery is more powerful for complex queries and large-scale deployments, while psutil is more accessible for Python developers and simpler system resource monitoring tasks.

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README

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.. raw:: html

<div align="center">
    <a href="https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil"><img src="https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil/raw/master/docs/_static/psutil-logo.png" /></a>
    <br />
    <br />
    <a href="https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil"><b>Home</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
    <a href="https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil/blob/master/INSTALL.rst"><b>Install</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
    <a href="https://psutil.readthedocs.io/"><b>Documentation</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
    <a href="https://pypi.org/project/psutil/#files"><b>Download</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
    <a href="https://groups.google.com/g/psutil"><b>Forum</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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    <a href="#funding"><b>Funding</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
    <a href="https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil/blob/master/HISTORY.rst"><b>What's new</b></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</div>

Summary

psutil (process and system utilities) is a cross-platform library for retrieving information on running processes and system utilization (CPU, memory, disks, network, sensors) in Python. It is useful mainly for system monitoring, profiling and limiting process resources and management of running processes. It implements many functionalities offered by classic UNIX command line tools such as ps, top, iotop, lsof, netstat, ifconfig, free and others. psutil currently supports the following platforms:

Linux
Windows
macOS
FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD
Sun Solaris
AIX

Supported Python versions are 2.7, 3.6+ and PyPy <http://pypy.org/>__.

Funding

While psutil is free software and will always be, the project would benefit immensely from some funding. Keeping up with bug reports and maintenance has become hardly sustainable for me alone in terms of time. If you're a company that's making significant use of psutil you can consider becoming a sponsor via GitHub Sponsors <https://github.com/sponsors/giampaolo>, Open Collective <https://opencollective.com/psutil> or PayPal <https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=A9ZS7PKKRM3S8>__ and have your logo displayed in here and psutil doc <https://psutil.readthedocs.io>__.

Supporters

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Contributing

See contributing guidelines <https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md>__.

Example usages

This represents pretty much the whole psutil API.

CPU

.. code-block:: python

>>> import psutil
>>>
>>> psutil.cpu_times()
scputimes(user=3961.46, nice=169.729, system=2150.659, idle=16900.540, iowait=629.59, irq=0.0, softirq=19.42, steal=0.0, guest=0, guest_nice=0.0)
>>>
>>> for x in range(3):
...     psutil.cpu_percent(interval=1)
...
4.0
5.9
3.8
>>>
>>> for x in range(3):
...     psutil.cpu_percent(interval=1, percpu=True)
...
[4.0, 6.9, 3.7, 9.2]
[7.0, 8.5, 2.4, 2.1]
[1.2, 9.0, 9.9, 7.2]
>>>
>>> for x in range(3):
...     psutil.cpu_times_percent(interval=1, percpu=False)
...
scputimes(user=1.5, nice=0.0, system=0.5, idle=96.5, iowait=1.5, irq=0.0, softirq=0.0, steal=0.0, guest=0.0, guest_nice=0.0)
scputimes(user=1.0, nice=0.0, system=0.0, idle=99.0, iowait=0.0, irq=0.0, softirq=0.0, steal=0.0, guest=0.0, guest_nice=0.0)
scputimes(user=2.0, nice=0.0, system=0.0, idle=98.0, iowait=0.0, irq=0.0, softirq=0.0, steal=0.0, guest=0.0, guest_nice=0.0)
>>>
>>> psutil.cpu_count()
4
>>> psutil.cpu_count(logical=False)
2
>>>
>>> psutil.cpu_stats()
scpustats(ctx_switches=20455687, interrupts=6598984, soft_interrupts=2134212, syscalls=0)
>>>
>>> psutil.cpu_freq()
scpufreq(current=931.42925, min=800.0, max=3500.0)
>>>
>>> psutil.getloadavg()  # also on Windows (emulated)
(3.14, 3.89, 4.67)

Memory

.. code-block:: python

>>> psutil.virtual_memory()
svmem(total=10367352832, available=6472179712, percent=37.6, used=8186245120, free=2181107712, active=4748992512, inactive=2758115328, buffers=790724608, cached=3500347392, shared=787554304)
>>> psutil.swap_memory()
sswap(total=2097147904, used=296128512, free=1801019392, percent=14.1, sin=304193536, sout=677842944)
>>>

Disks

.. code-block:: python

>>> psutil.disk_partitions()
[sdiskpart(device='/dev/sda1', mountpoint='/', fstype='ext4', opts='rw,nosuid'),
 sdiskpart(device='/dev/sda2', mountpoint='/home', fstype='ext', opts='rw')]
>>>
>>> psutil.disk_usage('/')
sdiskusage(total=21378641920, used=4809781248, free=15482871808, percent=22.5)
>>>
>>> psutil.disk_io_counters(perdisk=False)
sdiskio(read_count=719566, write_count=1082197, read_bytes=18626220032, write_bytes=24081764352, read_time=5023392, write_time=63199568, read_merged_count=619166, write_merged_count=812396, busy_time=4523412)
>>>

Network

.. code-block:: python

>>> psutil.net_io_counters(pernic=True)
{'eth0': netio(bytes_sent=485291293, bytes_recv=6004858642, packets_sent=3251564, packets_recv=4787798, errin=0, errout=0, dropin=0, dropout=0),
 'lo': netio(bytes_sent=2838627, bytes_recv=2838627, packets_sent=30567, packets_recv=30567, errin=0, errout=0, dropin=0, dropout=0)}
>>>
>>> psutil.net_connections(kind='tcp')
[sconn(fd=115, family=<AddressFamily.AF_INET: 2>, type=<SocketType.SOCK_STREAM: 1>, laddr=addr(ip='10.0.0.1', port=48776), raddr=addr(ip='93.186.135.91', port=80), status='ESTABLISHED', pid=1254),
 sconn(fd=117, family=<AddressFamily.AF_INET: 2>, type=<SocketType.SOCK_STREAM: 1>, laddr=addr(ip='10.0.0.1', port=43761), raddr=addr(ip='72.14.234.100', port=80), status='CLOSING', pid=2987),
 ...]
>>>
>>> psutil.net_if_addrs()
{'lo': [snicaddr(family=<AddressFamily.AF_INET: 2>, address='127.0.0.1', netmask='255.0.0.0', broadcast='127.0.0.1', ptp=None),
        snicaddr(family=<AddressFamily.AF_INET6: 10>, address='::1', netmask='ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff', broadcast=None, ptp=None),
        snicaddr(family=<AddressFamily.AF_LINK: 17>, address='00:00:00:00:00:00', netmask=None, broadcast='00:00:00:00:00:00', ptp=None)],
 'wlan0': [snicaddr(family=<AddressFamily.AF_INET: 2>, address='192.168.1.3', netmask='255.255.255.0', broadcast='192.168.1.255', ptp=None),
           snicaddr(family=<AddressFamily.AF_INET6: 10>, address='fe80::c685:8ff:fe45:641%wlan0', netmask='ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff::', broadcast=None, ptp=None),
           snicaddr(family=<AddressFamily.AF_LINK: 17>, address='c4:85:08:45:06:41', netmask=None, broadcast='ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff', ptp=None)]}
>>>
>>> psutil.net_if_stats()
{'lo': snicstats(isup=True, duplex=<NicDuplex.NIC_DUPLEX_UNKNOWN: 0>, speed=0, mtu=65536, flags='up,loopback,running'),
 'wlan0': snicstats(isup=True, duplex=<NicDuplex.NIC_DUPLEX_FULL: 2>, speed=100, mtu=1500, flags='up,broadcast,running,multicast')}
>>>

Sensors

.. code-block:: python

>>> import psutil
>>> psutil.sensors_temperatures()
{'acpitz': [shwtemp(label='', current=47.0, high=103.0, critical=103.0)],
 'asus': [shwtemp(label='', current=47.0, high=None, critical=None)],
 'coretemp': [shwtemp(label='Physical id 0', current=52.0, high=100.0, critical=100.0),
              shwtemp(label='Core 0', current=45.0, high=100.0, critical=100.0)]}
>>>
>>> psutil.sensors_fans()
{'asus': [sfan(label='cpu_fan', current=3200)]}
>>>
>>> psutil.sensors_battery()
sbattery(percent=93, secsleft=16628, power_plugged=False)
>>>

Other system info

.. code-block:: python

>>> import psutil
>>> psutil.users()
[suser(name='giampaolo', terminal='pts/2', host='localhost', started=1340737536.0, pid=1352),
 suser(name='giampaolo', terminal='pts/3', host='localhost', started=1340737792.0, pid=1788)]
>>>
>>> psutil.boot_time()
1365519115.0
>>>

Process management

.. code-block:: python

>>> import psutil
>>> psutil.pids()
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 46, 48, 50, 51, 178, 182, 222, 223, 224, 268, 1215,
 1216, 1220, 1221, 1243, 1244, 1301, 1601, 2237, 2355, 2637, 2774, 3932,
 4176, 4177, 4185, 4187, 4189, 4225, 4243, 4245, 4263, 4282, 4306, 4311,
 4312, 4313, 4314, 4337, 4339, 4357, 4358, 4363, 4383, 4395, 4408, 4433,
 4443, 4445, 4446, 5167, 5234, 5235, 5252, 5318, 5424, 5644, 6987, 7054,
 7055, 7071]
>>>
>>> p = psutil.Process(7055)
>>> p
psutil.Process(pid=7055, name='python3', status='running', started='09:04:44')
>>> p.pid
7055
>>> p.name()
'python3'
>>> p.exe()
'/usr/bin/python3'
>>> p.cwd()
'/home/giampaolo'
>>> p.cmdline()
['/usr/bin/python3', 'main.py']
>>>
>>> p.ppid()
7054
>>> p.parent()
psutil.Process(pid=4699, name='bash', status='sleeping', started='09:06:44')
>>> p.parents()
[psutil.Process(pid=4699, name='bash', started='09:06:44'),
 psutil.Process(pid=4689, name='gnome-terminal-server', status='sleeping', started='0:06:44'),
 psutil.Process(pid=1, name='systemd', status='sleeping', started='05:56:55')]
>>> p.children(recursive=True)
[psutil.Process(pid=29835, name='python3', status='sleeping', started='11:45:38'),
 psutil.Process(pid=29836, name='python3', status='waking', started='11:43:39')]
>>>
>>> p.status()
'running'
>>> p.create_time()
1267551141.5019531
>>> p.terminal()
'/dev/pts/0'
>>>
>>> p.username()
'giampaolo'
>>> p.uids()
puids(real=1000, effective=1000, saved=1000)
>>> p.gids()
pgids(real=1000, effective=1000, saved=1000)
>>>
>>> p.cpu_times()
pcputimes(user=1.02, system=0.31, children_user=0.32, children_system=0.1, iowait=0.0)
>>> p.cpu_percent(interval=1.0)
12.1
>>> p.cpu_affinity()
[0, 1, 2, 3]
>>> p.cpu_affinity([0, 1])  # set
>>> p.cpu_num()
1
>>>
>>> p.memory_info()
pmem(rss=10915840, vms=67608576, shared=3313664, text=2310144, lib=0, data=7262208, dirty=0)
>>> p.memory_full_info()  # "real" USS memory usage (Linux, macOS, Win only)
pfullmem(rss=10199040, vms=52133888, shared=3887104, text=2867200, lib=0, data=5967872, dirty=0, uss=6545408, pss=6872064, swap=0)
>>> p.memory_percent()
0.7823
>>> p.memory_maps()
[pmmap_grouped(path='/lib/x8664-linux-gnu/libutil-2.15.so', rss=32768, size=2125824, pss=32768, shared_clean=0, shared_dirty=0, private_clean=20480, private_dirty=12288, referenced=32768, anonymous=12288, swap=0),
 pmmap_grouped(path='/lib/x8664-linux-gnu/libc-2.15.so', rss=3821568, size=3842048, pss=3821568, shared_clean=0, shared_dirty=0, private_clean=0, private_dirty=3821568, referenced=3575808, anonymous=3821568, swap=0),
 pmmap_grouped(path='[heap]',  rss=32768, size=139264, pss=32768, shared_clean=0, shared_dirty=0, private_clean=0, private_dirty=32768, referenced=32768, anonymous=32768, swap=0),
 pmmap_grouped(path='[stack]', rss=2465792, size=2494464, pss=2465792, shared_clean=0, shared_dirty=0, private_clean=0, private_dirty=2465792, referenced=2277376, anonymous=2465792, swap=0),
 ...]
>>>
>>> p.io_counters()
pio(read_count=478001, write_count=59371, read_bytes=700416, write_bytes=69632, read_chars=456232, write_chars=517543)
>>>
>>> p.open_files()
[popenfile(path='/home/giampaolo/monit.py', fd=3, position=0, mode='r', flags=32768),
 popenfile(path='/var/log/monit.log', fd=4, position=235542, mode='a', flags=33793)]
>>>
>>> p.net_connections(kind='tcp')
[pconn(fd=115, family=<AddressFamily.AF_INET: 2>, type=<SocketType.SOCK_STREAM: 1>, laddr=addr(ip='10.0.0.1', port=48776), raddr=addr(ip='93.186.135.91', port=80), status='ESTABLISHED'),
 pconn(fd=117, family=<AddressFamily.AF_INET: 2>, type=<SocketType.SOCK_STREAM: 1>, laddr=addr(ip='10.0.0.1', port=43761), raddr=addr(ip='72.14.234.100', port=80), status='CLOSING')]
>>>
>>> p.threads()
[pthread(id=5234, user_time=22.5, system_time=9.2891),
 pthread(id=5237, user_time=0.0707, system_time=1.1)]
>>>
>>> p.num_threads()
4
>>> p.num_fds()
8
>>> p.num_ctx_switches()
pctxsw(voluntary=78, involuntary=19)
>>>
>>> p.nice()
0
>>> p.nice(10)  # set
>>>
>>> p.ionice(psutil.IOPRIO_CLASS_IDLE)  # IO priority (Win and Linux only)
>>> p.ionice()
pionice(ioclass=<IOPriority.IOPRIO_CLASS_IDLE: 3>, value=0)
>>>
>>> p.rlimit(psutil.RLIMIT_NOFILE, (5, 5))  # set resource limits (Linux only)
>>> p.rlimit(psutil.RLIMIT_NOFILE)
(5, 5)
>>>
>>> p.environ()
{'LC_PAPER': 'it_IT.UTF-8', 'SHELL': '/bin/bash', 'GREP_OPTIONS': '--color=auto',
'XDG_CONFIG_DIRS': '/etc/xdg/xdg-ubuntu:/usr/share/upstart/xdg:/etc/xdg',
 ...}
>>>
>>> p.as_dict()
{'status': 'running', 'num_ctx_switches': pctxsw(voluntary=63, involuntary=1), 'pid': 5457, ...}
>>> p.is_running()
True
>>> p.suspend()
>>> p.resume()
>>>
>>> p.terminate()
>>> p.kill()
>>> p.wait(timeout=3)
<Exitcode.EX_OK: 0>
>>>
>>> psutil.test()
USER         PID %CPU %MEM     VSZ     RSS TTY        START    TIME  COMMAND
root           1  0.0  0.0   24584    2240            Jun17   00:00  init
root           2  0.0  0.0       0       0            Jun17   00:00  kthreadd
...
giampaolo  31475  0.0  0.0   20760    3024 /dev/pts/0 Jun19   00:00  python2.4
giampaolo  31721  0.0  2.2  773060  181896            00:04   10:30  chrome
root       31763  0.0  0.0       0       0            00:05   00:00  kworker/0:1
>>>

Further process APIs

.. code-block:: python

>>> import psutil
>>> for proc in psutil.process_iter(['pid', 'name']):
...     print(proc.info)
...
{'pid': 1, 'name': 'systemd'}
{'pid': 2, 'name': 'kthreadd'}
{'pid': 3, 'name': 'ksoftirqd/0'}
...
>>>
>>> psutil.pid_exists(3)
True
>>>
>>> def on_terminate(proc):
...     print("process {} terminated".format(proc))
...
>>> # waits for multiple processes to terminate
>>> gone, alive = psutil.wait_procs(procs_list, timeout=3, callback=on_terminate)
>>>

Windows services

.. code-block:: python

>>> list(psutil.win_service_iter())
[<WindowsService(name='AeLookupSvc', display_name='Application Experience') at 38850096>,
 <WindowsService(name='ALG', display_name='Application Layer Gateway Service') at 38850128>,
 <WindowsService(name='APNMCP', display_name='Ask Update Service') at 38850160>,
 <WindowsService(name='AppIDSvc', display_name='Application Identity') at 38850192>,
 ...]
>>> s = psutil.win_service_get('alg')
>>> s.as_dict()
{'binpath': 'C:\\Windows\\System32\\alg.exe',
 'description': 'Provides support for 3rd party protocol plug-ins for Internet Connection Sharing',
 'display_name': 'Application Layer Gateway Service',
 'name': 'alg',
 'pid': None,
 'start_type': 'manual',
 'status': 'stopped',
 'username': 'NT AUTHORITY\\LocalService'}

Projects using psutil

Here's some I find particularly interesting:

Portings

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