# How To Check Swap Usage Size and Utilization in Linux ## [https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-check-swap-usage-command/](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-check-swap-usage-command/) ## Check swap usage size and utilization in Linux The procedure to check swap space usage and size in Linux is as follows: 1. Open a terminal application. 2. To see swap size in Linux, type the command: **swapon -s**. 3. You can also refer to the **/proc/swaps** file to see swap areas in use on Linux. 4. Type **free -m** to see both your ram and your swap space usage in Linux. 5. Finally, one can use the **top** or **htop** command to look for swap space Utilization on Linux too. ## How to Check Swap Space in Linux using /proc/swaps file Type the following [cat command](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-unix-appleosx-bsd-cat-command-examples/ "cat Command in Linux / Unix with examples") to see total and used swap size: `cat /proc/swaps ` Sample outputs: ``` Filename Type Size Used Priority /dev/sda3 partition 6291448 65680 0 ``` Another option is to type the [grep command](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-use-grep-command-in-linux-unix/ "How to use grep command In Linux / UNIX with examples") or [egrep command](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/grep-regular-expressions/ "Regular expressions in grep ( regex ) with examples") as follows: `grep '^Swap' /proc/meminfo` Here is what I see: ``` SwapCached: 0 kB SwapTotal: 524284 kB SwapFree: 524284 kB ``` ## Look for swap space in Linux using swapon command Type the following command to show swap usage summary by device `swapon -s` Sample outputs (you may see a filename such as /swap1 instead of a partition such as /dev/sda3): ``` Filename Type Size Used Priority /dev/sda3 partition 6291448 65680 0 ``` ## Use free command to monitor swap space usage Use the free command as follows: `free -g``free -k` `free -m` Sample outputs (look for swap line): ``` total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 11909 11645 264 0 324 8980 -/+ buffers/cache: 2341 9568 Swap: 6143 64 6079 ``` See [Linux Check Memory Usage Using the CLI and GUI](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-check-memory-usage/ "Linux Check Memory Usage Using the CLI and GUI") tutorial page for more info. ## See swap size in Linux using vmstat command Type the following vmstat command: `vmstat` `vmstat 1 5` Sample outputs: ``` procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- -system-- ----cpu---- r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa 1 9 1209512 101352 1504 127980 0 3 11 20 60 55 3 1 95 1 2 11 1209640 101292 1508 134132 844 424 5608 964 23280 15012 2 8 20 70 0 10 1210052 108132 1532 125764 648 660 10548 916 22237 18103 3 10 11 77 1 13 1209892 106484 1500 128052 796 240 10484 980 24024 12692 2 8 24 67 1 9 1209332 113412 1500 124028 1608 168 2472 620 28854 13761 2 8 20 70 ``` Note down the following output from swap field: 1. si: Amount of memory swapped in from disk (/s). 2. so: Amount of memory swapped to disk (/s). ## top/atop/htop/glances Linux commands
**Prerequisite** By default, htop, atop, and glances command may not be installed on your system. Hence, use the [apk command](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/10-alpine-linux-apk-command-examples/ "10 Alpine Linux apk Command Examples") on Alpine Linux, dnf command/[yum command](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/rhel-centos-fedora-linux-yum-command-howto/ "How to use the yum command on Linux (CentOS/RHEL)") on RHEL & co, [apt command](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/ubuntu-lts-debian-linux-apt-command-examples/ "apt Command Examples for Ubuntu/Debian Linux")/[apt-get command](https://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-debian-package-management-cheat-sheet.html "Ubuntu/Debian Linux apt-get package management cheat sheet") on Debian, Ubuntu & co, zypper command on SUSE/OpenSUSE, pacman command on Arch Linux to install the htop, atop, and glances.
Type any one of the following command at the CLI: `atop``htop``top``glances` Sample outputs from top command: ``` top - 02:54:24 up 15:24, 4 users, load average: 0.45, 4.84, 6.75 Tasks: 266 total, 1 running, 264 sleeping, 0 stopped, 1 zombie Cpu(s): 3.2%us, 1.4%sy, 0.0%ni, 94.4%id, 1.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.1%si, 0.0%st Mem: 8120568k total, 7673584k used, 446984k free, 4516k buffers Swap: 15859708k total, 1167408k used, 14692300k free, 1151972k cached PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND 13491 vivek 20 0 1137m 279m 6692 S 10 3.5 19:17.47 firefox 5663 vivek 10 -10 1564m 1.1g 59m S 8 14.5 5:10.94 vmware-vmx 2661 root 20 0 352m 185m 8604 S 6 2.3 65:40.17 Xorg 3752 vivek 20 0 3566m 2.6g 12m S 6 33.6 63:44.35 compiz 4798 vivek 20 0 900m 50m 4992 S 2 0.6 0:11.04 chrome 5539 vivek 20 0 1388m 838m 780m S 2 10.6 1:45.78 VirtualBox 6297 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 2 0.0 0:00.15 kworker/2:0 6646 root 20 0 19252 1404 936 R 2 0.0 0:00.01 top 1 root 20 0 8404 644 608 S 0 0.0 0:03.32 init 2 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.03 kthreadd 3 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:02.30 ksoftirqd/0 6 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/0 7 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.24 watchdog/0 37 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 cpuset 38 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 khelper 39 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 kdevtmpfs 40 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 netns ``` Sample outputs from htop command:
[![Linux: Swap Memory Usage Command](https://www.cyberciti.biz/media/new/faq/2012/10/swap-htop-output.png "Linux: Swap Memory Usage Command")](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-check-swap-usage-command/swap-htop-output/)
Fig.01: Linux: Swap Memory Usage Command
Sample outputs from glances command: ![Linux Check Swap Usage Size Using glances command](https://www.cyberciti.biz/media/new/faq/2012/10/Linux-Check-Swap-Usage-Size-Using-glances-command.png) See [how to keep an eye on your Linux system with glances monitor](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-install-glances-monitoring-tool/ "Linux: Keep An Eye On Your System With Glances Monitor") for more info. ## [Linux Find Out What Process Are Using Swap Space](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-which-process-is-using-swap/) Try the smem command: `smem` OR `top` ## Linux GUI tool to monitor swap space size and usage Try Gnome or KDE system monitor tool. For example, the **GNOME System Monitor** shows you what programs are running and how much processor time, memory (including paging/swap space size), and disk space are being used. ![Swap space on Linux displayed using System Monitor](https://www.cyberciti.biz/media/new/faq/2012/10/Swap-space-on-Linux-displayed-using-System-Monitor.png) ##