LFCS Essential Commands Practice Question
Which THREE commands can change the priority of an already running process?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse `nice` (which only sets priority for new processes) with `renice` (which modifies running processes), or mistakenly think `kill -STOP` changes priority when it actually halts the process.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
top (press 'r')
The `top` interactive command allows you to change the priority (nice value) of a running process by pressing 'r' and entering the PID and new nice value. This directly modifies the process's scheduling priority without restarting it.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
kill -STOP
Why it's wrong here
kill -STOP suspends execution, it does not alter priority.
- ✓
top (press 'r')
Why this is correct
top's interactive 'r' command allows changing the nice value of a running process.
- ✓
chrt
Why this is correct
chrt sets or retrieves the real-time scheduling attributes, which effectively changes priority.
- ✗
nice
Why it's wrong here
nice launches a new process with a specified priority, it does not affect running processes.
- ✓
renice
Why this is correct
renice changes the priority of an existing process by PID or process group.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This LFCS practice question is part of Courseiva's free Linux Foundation certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the LFCS exam.