To connect the output from the top command to your widget using PHP, you can execute the top command through PHP and parse its output to extract specific values like CPU usage, memory usage, or the number of processes. While top itself doesn’t offer direct command-line parameters to limit its output to a single metric, you can use a combination of top in batch mode and text processing tools like awk or sed to achieve this.
Here’s a general approach to execute top and parse its output in PHP:
- Execute
topin Batch Mode: Use the-boption to runtopin batch mode, which suppresses the interactive interface and outputs the statistics once. - Pipe Output to Text Processing Tools: Use
awk,sed, or similar tools to parse the output and extract the desired information. - Capture and Use the Output in PHP: Execute the command using PHP’s
execorshell_execfunctions, capture the output, and then use it as needed.
Example: Extracting CPU Usage
Here’s how you might write a PHP script to execute top in batch mode, parse its output to extract CPU usage, and then use that value:
<?php
// Execute top in batch mode and pipe the output to awk for parsing
$output = shell_exec("top -bn1 | awk '/Cpu/ { printf(\"CPU Usage: %.2f%%\\n\", 100 - $8) }'");
// Capture the output
echo $output;
?>
This script executes top in batch mode, pipes its output to awk, which looks for lines containing “Cpu”. When it finds such a line, it calculates the CPU usage by subtracting the idle percentage ($8) from 100 and prints the result.
Note:
- The exact field (
$8) in theawkcommand depends on the version oftopand its output formatting. You might need to adjust this based on your environment. - Running shell commands from PHP can pose security risks, especially if user-supplied input is involved. Always validate and sanitize inputs and consider using safer alternatives like PHP extensions designed for system information retrieval when possible.
This approach allows you to dynamically update your widget with system metrics like CPU usage, memory usage, or the number of processes, providing real-time feedback on the system’s performance.
Further reading …
- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22833547/php-script-to-get-cpu-utilization-for-each-process
- https://serverfault.com/questions/334007/cpu-usage-from-top-command
- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8432414/php-equivalent-to-linuxs-top-command
- https://superuser.com/questions/602759/how-to-get-cpu-percentage-and-memory-usage-on-single-line
- https://askubuntu.com/questions/68741/finding-cpu-usage-from-top-command
- https://askubuntu.com/questions/1433860/finding-out-specific-processes-that-are-running-php-commands-shown-in-top-i
- https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/13968/show-top-five-cpu-consuming-processes-with-ps
- https://www.slingacademy.com/article/php-how-to-get-system-information-cpu-ram-os-disk-space/
- https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.memory-get-usage.php
- https://www.howtogeek.com/668986/how-to-use-the-linux-top-command-and-understand-its-output/
- https://www.php.net/manual/de/function.memory-get-peak-usage.php
- https://serverfault.com/questions/1147601/php-fpm-process-is-taking-too-much-cpu [13] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11729720/how-to-capture-the-output-of-a-top-command-in-a-file-in-linux


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