[CentOS] free

[Keith Keller]

On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 10:15:06AM -0400, Jason Pyeron wrote:
> The man page does not say much, but does this mean I have only 396668 used by
> programs (used-cached)?
> 
> Or shoul I be reading the 2nd line?

Yes, you should be reading the second line.

> [root at ten-212 ~]# free
>              total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
> Mem:       7918844    5478820    2440024          0     111684    5082152
> -/+ buffers/cache:     284984    7633860
> Swap:      9961464        204    9961260

This first line includes all files that are being cached in memory (for
faster reading if needed later, for example).  That memory will be freed
up if needed.  The second line doesn't include that cache, so is a
better indicator of actual memory use.

(And on that first line, "cached" is already part of "used", so your
free memory counting the cache is 2440024; it's just provided for
informational purposes.)

--keith

-- 
kkeller at wombat.san-francisco.ca.us

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