Shell equivalents

This page maps psutil’s Python API to the equivalent native terminal commands on each platform. This is useful for understanding what psutil replaces and for cross-checking results.

See also

• Stdlib equivalents

• Alternatives

System-wide functions

CPU

psutil function	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
cpu_percent()	top	same	same
cpu_count(logical=True)	nproc	sysctl hw.logicalcpu	sysctl hw.ncpu
cpu_count(logical=False)	lscpu | grep '^Core(s)'	sysctl hw.physicalcpu
cpu_times(percpu=False)	cat /proc/stat | grep '^cpu\s'		systat -vmstat
cpu_times(percpu=True)	cat /proc/stat | grep '^cpu'		systat -vmstat
cpu_times_percent(percpu=False)	mpstat
cpu_times_percent(percpu=True)	mpstat -P ALL
cpu_freq()	cpufreq-info, lscpu | grep "MHz"	sysctl hw.cpufrequency	sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq	systeminfo
cpu_stats()			vmstat -s, sysctl vm.stats.sys
getloadavg()	uptime	same	same

Memory

psutil function	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
virtual_memory()	free, vmstat, cat /proc/meminfo	vm_stat	vmstat -s, sysctl vm.stats	systeminfo
swap_memory()	free, vmstat, swapon	sysctl vm.swapusage	vmstat -s, swapinfo
heap_info()
heap_trim()

Disks

psutil function	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
disk_usage()	df	same	same	fsutil volume diskfree C:\
disk_partitions()	mount, findmnt	mount	mount
disk_io_counters()	iostat -dx	iostat	iostat -x

Network

psutil function	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
net_connections()	netstat -anp, ss, lsof -nP -i -U	netstat -anp	netstat -an	netstat -an
net_if_addrs()	ifconfig, ip addr	ifconfig	ifconfig	ipconfig, systeminfo
net_io_counters()	netstat -i, ifconfig, ip -s link	netstat -i	netstat -i	netstat -e
net_if_stats()	ifconfig, ip -br link, ip link	ifconfig	ifconfig	netsh interface show interface

Sensors

psutil function	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
sensors_temperatures()	sensors		sysctl dev.cpu.*.temperature
sensors_fans()	sensors		sysctl dev.cpu.*.fan
sensors_battery()	acpi -b	pmset -g batt	apm -b

Other

psutil function	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
boot_time()	uptime, who -b	sysctl kern.boottime	sysctl kern.boottime	systeminfo
users()	who -a, w	same	same
pids()	ps -A -eo pid	same	same	tasklist
pid_exists()	kill -0 PID	same	same

Process methods

Assuming p = psutil.Process().

Identity

psutil method	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
p.name()	ps -o comm -p PID	same	procstat -b PID
p.exe()	readlink /proc/pid/exe	lsof -p PID	procstat -b PID
p.cmdline()	ps -o args -p PID	same	procstat -c PID
p.status()	ps -o stat -p PID	same	same
p.create_time()	ps -o lstart -p PID	same	same
p.is_running()	kill -0 PID	same	same
p.environ()	xargs -0 -a /proc/pid/environ		procstat -e PID
p.cwd()	pwdx PID	lsof -p PID -a -d cwd

Process tree

psutil method	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
p.ppid()	ps -o ppid= -p PID	same	same
p.parent()	ps -p $(ps -o ppid= -p PID)	same	same
p.parents()	pstree -s PID	same	same
p.children(recursive=False)	pgrep -P PID	same	same
p.children(recursive=True)	pstree -p PID	same	same

Credentials

psutil method	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
p.uids()	ps -o uid,ruid,suid -p PID	same	procstat -s PID
p.gids()	ps -o gid,rgid,sgid -p PID	same	procstat -s PID
p.username()	ps -o user -p PID	same	same
p.terminal()	ps -o tty -p PID	same	same

CPU / scheduling

psutil method	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
p.cpu_percent()	ps -o %cpu -p PID	same	same
p.cpu_times()	ps -o cputime -p PID	same	procstat -r PID
p.cpu_num()	ps -o psr -p PID
p.num_ctx_switches()	pidstat -w -p PID		procstat -r PID
p.cpu_affinity()	taskset -p PID		cpuset -g -p PID
p.cpu_affinity(CPUS)	taskset -p MASK PID		cpuset -s -p PID -l CPUS
p.ionice()	ionice -p PID
p.ionice(CLASS)	ionice -c CLASS -p PID
p.nice()	ps -o nice -p PID	same	same
p.nice(VALUE)	renice -n VALUE -p PID	same	same
p.rlimit(RES)	prlimit --pid PID		procstat rlimit PID
p.rlimit(RES, LIMITS)	prlimit --pid PID --RES=SOFT:HARD

Memory

psutil method	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
p.memory_info()	ps -o rss,vsz -p PID	same	same
p.memory_info_ex()	cat /proc/pid/status
p.memory_percent()	ps -o %mem -p PID	same	same
p.memory_maps()	pmap PID	vmmap PID	procstat -v PID
p.memory_footprint()	smem, smemstat
p.page_faults()	ps -o maj_flt,min_flt -p PID	ps -o faults -p PID	procstat -r PID

Threads

psutil method	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
p.num_threads()	ps -o nlwp -p PID	same	same
p.threads()	ps -T -p PID

Files and connections

psutil method	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
p.net_connections()	ss -p, lsof -p PID -i	lsof -p PID -i		netstat -ano | findstr PID
p.open_files()	lsof -p PID	same	procstat -f PID, fstat	handle.exe -p PID
p.io_counters()	cat /proc/pid/io
p.num_fds()	ls /proc/pid/fd | wc -l
p.num_handles()

Signals

psutil method	Linux	macOS	BSD	Windows
p.send_signal()	kill -SIG PID	same	same
p.suspend()	kill -STOP PID	same	same
p.resume()	kill -CONT PID	same	same
p.terminate()	kill -TERM PID	same	same	taskkill /PID PID
p.kill()	kill -KILL PID	same	same	taskkill /F /PID PID
p.wait()	tail --pid=PID -f /dev/null	lsof -p PID +r 1	pwait PID