Install Htop on Debian 11 Bullseye

Htop is a free, open-source, cross-platform interactive process viewer. It is a text-mode application (for console or X terminals) and requires ncurses. The terminal UI is a great way to see what your system looks like inside, both in terms of processes and other info. It’s also completely customizable, so you can change colors or add different widgets for more visual representation!

In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install Htop Interactive Process Viewer on Debian 11 Bullseye desktop or server.

Prerequisites

• Recommended OS: Debian 11 Bullseye
• User account: A user account with sudo or root access.
• Internet Connection

The tutorial will utilize the terminal for the installation found in Activities > Show Applications > Terminal.

Example:

Update Operating System

Update your Debian operating system to make sure all existing packages are up to date:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

The tutorial will be using the sudo command and assuming you have sudo status.

To verify sudo status on your account:

sudo whoami

Example output showing sudo status:

[joshua@debian~]$ sudo whoami
root

To set up an existing or new sudo account, visit our tutorial on Adding a User to Sudoers on Debian.

Installing Htop

By default, Debian 11 Bullseye repository has Htop available.

To proceed with the installation, use the following command.

sudo apt install htop

Confirm the installation and version build by using the htop –version command.

htop --version

Example output:

htop 3.0.5

Using Htop – Terminal Commands

As the name suggests, use the following command to bring up Htop in your terminal.

htop

Example output:

This is a pretty standard overview of your system, which would suit most users just needing to check quickly on the system stats.

Further options can be added, such as some standard parameters below.

Parameter	Function
-d –delay= 10	Specify the update rate in 1/10 seconds
-C –no-color –no-colour	Start without colors
-h –help	Show quick help
-u –user=username	Show only processes of the specified user
-s –sort-key	Sort by a specific column. A list of the permitted column names can be htop -s help output with ” “.
-v –version	Show Htop version

One of the most common parameters is delaying the update frequency of Htop, as many have the application constantly running to monitor system or network performances.

htop -d 10

As above, this has added on a ten-second delay, but you can specify anything you want in seconds.

Htop Keyboard Shorts

Below is a list of the most commonly used shortcuts.

Keys	Function
← , ↑ , → , ↓	Scroll through the process list
⇧ + U	Remove all tags
. or ,	Incremental search for the PID
F1 , ? , H	Show help
U	Show processes of a user
F2 , ⇧ + S	Open setup and change settings
⇧ + H	Show/hide user  threads
F3, ⇧ + /	Incremental process name search
⇧ + K	Show/hide kernel threads
F4, \	Filter by name
⇧ + F.	Pin the cursor to a process
F5 , T	Activate / deactivate tree view
+ , –	Expand/collapse the tree
F6, >	Select column to sort
⇧ + P	Sort processes by CPU usage
F7	Decrease Nice value
⇧ + M	Sort processes by memory usage
F8	Increase Nice value
⇧ + T	Sort processes by the time
F9, K	End the process or processes of a day
L	Open files with lsof open
F10 , Q , Ctrl + C	break up
S	System calls to stracetrace
Space bar	Tag process
⇧ + L	Track library ltracecalls
I	I / O control

Removing (Uninstall) Htop

To remove Htop from your system is straightforward. Use the following command.

sudo apt remove htop

Comments and Conclusion

In the tutorial, you have learned how to install Htop on Debian 11 Bullseye. Overall, Htop is a great lightweight system monitoring tool in your Linux terminal compared to the standard top command.

Other similar software can show more details, such as Glances System Monitor, but for quick, easy local monitoring, Htop is one of the most popular Linux distros.