Unix in a Nutshell, 4th Edition

Name

nice

Synopsis

    nice [options] command [arguments]

Execute a command and arguments with lower priority (i.e., be “nice” to other users). Also built-in to the C shell, with a different command syntax (see Chapter 5).

Options

- n

Run command with a niceness of n (1–19); default is 10. Higher n means lower priority. A privileged user can raise priority by specifying a negative n (e.g., -5). nice works differently in the C shell (see Chapter 5). + n raises priority, - n lowers it, and 4 is the default.

-nn, --adjustment=n

Same as - n.