Get Real-Time Statistics about System Processes 

On Unix-based systems, you can use SemanticImport to get real-time statistics about the system processes.

Start by running the system shell.

In[1]:=

X shell = StartProcess[$SystemShell];

Next, run the "ps" command and retrieve its output after a small pause.

In[2]:=

X WriteLine[shell, "ps -Ao pid,%cpu,user,start_time,comm"]; Pause[1.5]; output = ReadString[shell, EndOfBuffer];

Parse the data using SemanticImportString.

In[3]:=

X SemanticImportString[output]

Out[3]=

Make a function that shows the processes with the highest CPU usage.

In[4]:=

X getProcessGrid[shell_, n_] := Module[{}, WriteLine[shell, "ps -Ao pid,%cpu,user,start_time,comm"]; Pause[1.5]; Grid[Prepend[ Take[Reverse[SortBy[SemanticImportString[ ReadString[shell, EndOfBuffer], Automatic, "Rows"], #[[2]] &]], n], Style["\n " <> # <> " \n", Bold] & /@ {"Process id", "% CPU", "User", "Start time", "ProcessName"} ], Frame -> All] ]

Make a dynamically updating display of CPU usage.

In[5]:=

X Dynamic[getProcessGrid[shell, 10], UpdateInterval -> 5]

Out[5]=