Linux Process Management

Every running program on Linux is a process. Here is what you need to know.

Key Commands

ps aux      — list all processes
top         — interactive process viewer
kill -9 PID — force terminate

Process States

• Running: actively executing
• Sleeping: waiting for I/O or a timer
• Zombie: terminated but not yet reaped by parent

Most of the time you only need ps aux and kill. Learn those first.