NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     nice - execute a utility with an altered scheduling priority

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     nice [-n increment] utility [argument ...]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     nice  runs utility at an altered scheduling priority.  If an
increment is
     given, it is used; otherwise an increment of 10 is  assumed.
The superuser
  can  run utilities with priorities higher than normal by
using a negative
 increment.  The priority can be adjusted over  a  range
of -20 (the
     highest) to 20 (the lowest).

     The options are as follows:

     -n increment
             A positive or negative decimal integer used to modify the system
             scheduling priority of utility.

     The nice utility shall exit with one of the  following  values:

           1-125   An error occurred.
           126      The  utility  was  found but could not be invoked.
           127     The utility could not be found.

     Otherwise, the exit status of nice shall be that of utility.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     csh(1), getpriority(2), setpriority(2), renice(8)

STANDARDS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The  historic  -increment  option has been deprecated but is
still supported
     in this implementation.

     The  nice  utility  conforms   to   IEEE   Std   1003.2-1992
(``POSIX.2'').

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     A nice utility appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

     nice  is  built into csh(1) with a slightly different syntax
than described
     here.  The form `nice +10' nices to positive nice, and `nice
-10' can be
     used  by the superuser to give a process more of the processor.

OpenBSD      3.6                           June      6,      1993