Description of problem: Passing LINES= to top in batch mode with -w should restrict the number of lines of output. It doesn't. [dberry@t580 ~]$ ssh root@el7a root@el7a's password: Last login: Thu Feb 10 15:00:26 2022 from t580 [root@el7a ~]# LINES=10 top -b -w top - 15:04:32 up 5 days, 4 min, 2 users, load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.05 Tasks: 194 total, 2 running, 192 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie %Cpu(s): 17.6 us, 5.9 sy, 0.0 ni, 76.5 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st KiB Mem : 1881992 total, 729452 free, 616116 used, 536424 buff/cache KiB Swap: 1048572 total, 1047776 free, 796 used. 1103124 avail Mem PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND 1665 don 20 0 3001044 141160 21208 S 6.2 7.5 2:48.07 gnome-shell 1 root 20 0 191268 3740 2188 S 0.0 0.2 0:03.18 systemd 2 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 kthreadd 4 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kworker/0:0H 6 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:01.49 ksoftirqd/0 7 root rt 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/0 8 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 rcu_bh 9 root 20 0 0 0 0 R 0.0 0.0 0:05.39 rcu_sched 10 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 lru-add-drain 11 root rt 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:01.93 watchdog/0 13 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kdevtmpfs 14 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 netns 15 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.14 khungtaskd 16 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 writeback 17 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kintegrityd 18 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 bioset 19 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 bioset 20 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 bioset 21 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kblockd 22 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 md 23 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 edac-poller ... [root@el7a ~]# man top ... -w :Output-width-override as: -w [ number ] In Batch mode, when used without an argument top will format output using the COLUMNS= and LINES= environment variables, if set. It works fine in RHEL 8 and Fedora 35: [dberry@t580 ~]$ ssh root@el8a Last login: Mon Jan 31 11:29:53 2022 from 192.168.122.1 [root@el8a ~]# LINES=10 top -b -w top - 15:05:59 up 0 min, 1 user, load average: 2.14, 0.56, 0.19 Tasks: 137 total, 1 running, 136 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie %Cpu(s):100.0 us, 0.0 sy, 0.0 ni, 0.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st MiB Mem : 1818.9 total, 1355.0 free, 189.1 used, 274.8 buff/cache MiB Swap: 1024.0 total, 1024.0 free, 0.0 used. 1458.3 avail Mem PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND 5096 root 20 0 426656 67308 2480 S 99.9 3.6 0:10.67 mksquashfs 1 root 20 0 94788 10568 8204 S 0.0 0.6 0:01.51 systemd 2 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kthreadd top - 15:06:02 up 0 min, 1 user, load average: 2.13, 0.59, 0.20 Tasks: 137 total, 2 running, 135 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie %Cpu(s): 97.4 us, 1.7 sy, 0.0 ni, 0.0 id, 0.0 wa, 0.7 hi, 0.0 si, 0.3 st MiB Mem : 1818.9 total, 1350.9 free, 190.7 used, 277.2 buff/cache MiB Swap: 1024.0 total, 1024.0 free, 0.0 used. 1456.6 avail Mem PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND 5096 root 20 0 428960 69156 2480 S 99.0 3.7 0:13.64 mksquashfs 714 root 20 0 0 0 0 I 0.3 0.0 0:00.06 kworker/0:5-events_power_efficient 1 root 20 0 94788 10568 8204 S 0.0 0.6 0:01.51 systemd^C [root@el8a ~]# [dberry@t580 ~]$ cat /etc/fedora-release Fedora release 35 (Thirty Five) [dberry@t580 ~]$ LINES=10 top -b -w top - 15:02:52 up 10 days, 5:41, 1 user, load average: 2.41, 2.31, 2.58 Tasks: 402 total, 3 running, 399 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie %Cpu(s): 19.4 us, 3.6 sy, 0.0 ni, 76.3 id, 0.0 wa, 0.7 hi, 0.0 si, 0.0 st MiB Mem : 31937.7 total, 4147.8 free, 20284.9 used, 7505.0 buff/cache MiB Swap: 24264.0 total, 19053.3 free, 5210.7 used. 6493.0 avail Mem PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND 1554797 dberry 20 0 2894292 171920 115948 R 70.6 0.5 3298:49 Isolated Web Co 2266557 dberry 20 0 9359904 329760 114644 R 41.2 1.0 1:58.88 Isolated Web Co 1553004 dberry 20 0 12.0g 1.7g 649416 S 23.5 5.3 734:33.03 firefox top - 15:02:55 up 10 days, 5:42, 1 user, load average: 2.94, 2.42, 2.62 Tasks: 402 total, 4 running, 398 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie %Cpu(s): 17.4 us, 1.6 sy, 0.0 ni, 80.3 id, 0.0 wa, 0.5 hi, 0.2 si, 0.0 st MiB Mem : 31937.7 total, 4086.7 free, 20338.8 used, 7512.2 buff/cache MiB Swap: 24264.0 total, 19053.3 free, 5210.7 used. 6431.9 avail Mem PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND 1554797 dberry 20 0 2894292 171920 115948 S 72.1 0.5 3298:51 Isolated Web Co 1553601 dberry 20 0 6184552 3.2g 133128 R 20.3 10.3 1487:35 Isolated Web Co 1553004 dberry 20 0 12.0g 1.7g 649416 S 18.6 5.3 734:33.59 firefox^C Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): [root@el7a ~]# which top /usr/bin/top [root@el7a ~]# rpm -qf /usr/bin/top procps-ng-3.3.10-28.el7.x86_64 How reproducible: 100% Steps to Reproduce: 1. log in to RHEL 7 2. LINES=10 top -b -w 3. Actual results: Shows all lines Expected results: Should show 10 lines Additional info: This is the latest version. [root@el7a ~]# yum update [root@el7a ~]# rpm -qf /usr/bin/top procps-ng-3.3.10-28.el7.x86_64
After evaluating this issue, there are no plans to address it further or fix it in an upcoming release. Therefore, it is being closed. If plans change such that this issue will be fixed in an upcoming release, then the bug can be reopened.