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It there a way to display the complete command line in htop (e.g. in multiple lines or with a moving banner). With the default setting where only one line is displayed it isn't possible to distungish all processes, e.g. different java programs (because class or jar argument follows a bunch of arguments) or programs with long absolute path of binaries.

Omitting the full absolute path in favour of only the binary would be a compromise where distinction would not be optimal, but better in some cases.

I checked out the settings and the manpage and didn't find an option suitable in my understanding.

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    Something like this for p in $(pidof java); do echo $p:; cat /proc/$p/cmdline| xargs -0 echo; done |less to inspect pids commandline? Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 19:59

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
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As far as I know, the only way to show the full command line is to scroll right with the arrow keys or to use a terminal with a small font.

EDIT (thanks to @LangeHaare): You can use Ctrl-A and Ctrl-E to jump to the beginning and end the command line.

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    Do you know whether there's a way to jump to the end and back to the beginning of the command line? Dealing with java command lines containing the complete classpath can lead up to > 2000 signs easily... Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 11:32
  • @Karl To the right end? or down end? Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 13:37
  • @tachomi The right end (and left end, i.e. the view right after start) Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 15:04
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    @KarlRichter you can use CTRL+A and CTRL+E to go to start and end of the scrolling Commented Nov 20, 2017 at 17:11
  • There is a feature request but it has been refused: github.com/hishamhm/htop/issues/233 Commented Mar 21, 2019 at 16:20
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Just press the w key.

From the help available with F1:

w: wrap process command in multiple lines

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    cool tips, only works with more recent version of htop (ubuntu 20.04's repo version not included) Commented Jul 6, 2023 at 11:25
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ctrl+f and use arrow key to move left and right.

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A couple of options of htop which do not wrap the line, but at least reduce the content are:

  • p: Show full paths to running programs, where applicable. (This is a toggle key.)
  • m: Merge exe, comm and cmdline, where applicable. (This is a toggle key.)

With this we can move from, in iOS and Chrome for example:

/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome -> Google Chrome

More info at https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/htop.1.html

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