FREE(1)

NAME
free - display information about free and used memory on the system

SYNOPSIS
free [-b|-k|-m|-g] [-l] [-o] [-t] [-s delay ] [-c count ]

DESCRIPTION
free(1) displays the total amount of free and used physical memory and swap space in the system, as well as the buffers and cache consumed by the kernel.

OPTIONS
Normal invocation of free(1) does not require any options. The output, however, can be fine-tuned by specifying one or more of the following flags:

-b, --bytes
    Display output in bytes.

-k, --kb
    Display output in kilobytes (KB). This is the default.

-m, --mb
    Display output in megabytes (MB).

-g, --gb
    Display output in gigabytes (GB).

-l, --lowhigh
    Display detailed information about low vs. high memory usage.

-o, --old
    Use old format. Specifically, do not display -/+ buffers/cache.

-t, --total
    Display total summary for physical memory + swap space.

-c n, --count=n
    Display statistics n times, then exit. Used in conjunction with the -s flag. Default is to display only once, unless -s was specified, in which case default is to repeat until interrupted.

-s n, --repeat=n
    Repeat, pausing every n seconds in-between.

-V, --version
    Display version information and exit.

--help
    Display usage information and exit

FILES
/proc/meminfo -- memory information

SEE ALSO
ps(1), top(1), vmstat(1)

AUTHORS
Written by Robert Love. The procps package is maintained by Robert Love and was created by Michael Johnson. Send bug reports to <procps-list@redhat.com>.