Using the top program in bash to extract cpu time into a variable

Question

I have an assignment in bash scripting trying to measure cpu time used for a process passed into the script by name. I can find the process id and pass it to the top program in bash. However, I haven't figured out how to extract the cpu time from the top program. for example:

top is printing out:

top - 00:57:07 up  6:06,  2 users,  load average: 0.46, 0.31, 0.55
Tasks:   1 total,   1 running,   0 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
%Cpu(s):  3.7 us,  0.8 sy,  0.0 ni, 94.6 id,  0.9 wa,  0.0 hi,  0.1 si,  0.0 st
KiB Mem:   1928720 total,  1738072 used,   190648 free,    57184 buffers
PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S  %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND
3337 amarkovi  20   0  372m  31m  10m R   0.7  1.7  13:28.74 chromium-browse

all I want from this is the TIME+ field to be assigned to variable so I can add up the time and print it out by it self.

I am a noob to bash scripting so please be patient.

thanks,

chepner · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-23 16:45:55Z

1

Do you have to use top? It should be much simpler (once you work out the right options) to use ps to give you just the fields you want, then use grep to select just the processes you want.

answered Feb 23, 2013 at 16:45

chepner

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3 Comments

user1078259 Over a year ago

I don't have to use top. I can ps but I really don't understand the output modifiers and how to take the time value into a variable. I am a programmer and this shell options are very confusing. is used ps -p (pidof md) it gives me print out of time. What are the modifiers to use in order to only display time and assign the value to variable.

user1078259 Over a year ago

got that ps -o time -p pid now I need to cut it and save it :)

anishsane Over a year ago

^^ skip header, using ps -otime= -p pid

Chirlo · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-23 16:43:49Z

0

Since it's an assigment i don't want to spoil all the fun :D. I'll just point you to some commands of which can help you in your endeavour : sed, awk and cut. With this 3 you can solve it in many ways, enjoy!

answered Feb 23, 2013 at 16:43

Chirlo

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