How to Filter Processes by Name in htop on Ubuntu

Managing system resources on Ubuntu often requires monitoring specific applications. The htop utility provides an interactive view of running processes, but finding a specific one among hundreds can be difficult. This guide explains how to filter processes by name in htop, allowing you to isolate specific tasks quickly and manage them efficiently without scrolling through the entire list.

Install and Launch htop

If you have not installed htop yet, open your terminal and run the following command:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install htop

Once installed, launch the utility by typing htop and pressing Enter. You will see a list of all running processes on your system.

Apply the Process Filter

To filter the list by a specific process name, press the F4 key on your keyboard. This activates the filter bar at the top of the screen.

Type the name of the process you want to find. For example, if you are looking for Firefox, type firefox. As you type, the list will immediately update to show only processes matching that string. Any process that does not match the filter criteria will be hidden from the view.

Clear the Filter

To return to the full list of running processes, press the F4 key again. This will clear the current filter string and display all processes once more. Alternatively, you can manually delete the text in the filter bar using the backspace key until it is empty.

Understanding Filter vs Search

It is important to distinguish between filtering and searching in htop. Pressing F3 initiates a search, which highlights matching processes but keeps non-matching ones visible. Pressing F4 initiates a filter, which hides non-matching processes entirely. For isolating specific applications, the F4 filter method is the most effective approach.