Linux Pocket Guide

Name

renice priority [options] PID — util-linux

Synopsis

/usr/bin stdin stdout - file -- opt --help --version

While the nice command can invoke a program at a given priority, renice changes the priority of an already-running process. Here we increase the nice level (decrease the priority) of process 28734 by five:

$ renice +5 -p 28734

Ordinary users can decrease priorities (increase the number), and the superuser can increase priorities (decrease the number). The valid range is -20 to +20, but avoid highly negative numbers or you might interfere with vital system processes.

Useful options
-p pid	Affect the given process ID. You can omit the -p and just provide a PID (renice +5 28734).
-u username	Affect all processes owned by the given user.