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Nice numbers (NI) alter the CPU priority and are used to balance the CPU load in a multiuser environment. Each process is started with a default nice number of 0. Nice numbers range from 19 [lowest] to -20 [highest].
All processes start with a default nice number of zero. Only the root user can decrease the nice number of a process. nice is used to modify a process that is not running while renice is uses to modify a process that is already running.
syntax:
nice -n # process &
e.g.: nice -n 15 xclock &
Syntax:
renice -n # -p PID
e.g: renice -n 15 -p 1620
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