Monitor CPU usage using Python

Monitoring CPU usage is a crucial aspect of system performance analysis, whether you’re running Windows, Linux, or macOS. In this article, we will explore how to monitor CPU usage using Python scripts on all three of these popular operating systems.

CPU monitoring allows you to track how much of your system’s processing power is being utilized by various processes and applications. This information is valuable for system administrators, developers, and anyone interested in optimizing system performance or diagnosing issues.

We will use Python to create scripts that utilize platform-specific libraries to monitor CPU usage. Here’s a step-by-step guide for each operating system:

Windows

To monitor CPU usage on Windows, we will use the psutil library. If you haven’t already installed it, you can do so with pip:

pip install psutil

Now, let’s create a Python script to monitor CPU usage:

import psutil
def monitor_cpu_usage():
    while True:
        cpu_usage = psutil.cpu_percent(interval=1)
        print(f"CPU Usage: {cpu_usage}%")
if __name__ == "__main__":
    monitor_cpu_usage()

This script imports the psutil library and repeatedly checks and prints the CPU usage percentage with a 1-second interval. You can stop the script by pressing Ctrl+C.

Linux

On Linux, we can use the psutil library just like on Windows, but there’s also an alternative method using the /proc/stat file.

First, ensure you have psutil installed

import time
def monitor_cpu_usage():
    while True:
        with open('/proc/stat') as file:
            line = file.readline()
            if line.startswith('cpu '):
                fields = line.split()
                total_time = sum(map(int, fields[1:]))
                idle_time = int(fields[4])
                cpu_usage = 100.0 * (1.0 - idle_time / total_time)
                print(f"CPU Usage: {cpu_usage:.2f}%")
        time.sleep(1)
if __name__ == "__main__":
    monitor_cpu_usage()

This script reads the /proc/stat file and calculates CPU usage based on the idle and total time. It prints the CPU usage percentage with a 1-second interval.

macOS

macOS monitoring can be done using the psutil library, similar to Windows. Ensure you have psutil installed:

import psutil
def monitor_cpu_usage():
    while True:
        cpu_usage = psutil.cpu_percent(interval=1)
        print(f"CPU Usage: {cpu_usage}%")
if __name__ == "__main__":
    monitor_cpu_usage()

We used the psutil library for Windows and macOS, which provides a cross-platform solution. For Linux, we used /proc/stat to calculate CPU usage.

Windows

Sample output from the Windows script using the psutil library:

CPU Usage: 10.5%
CPU Usage: 8.2%
CPU Usage: 12.7%

Linux

Sample output from the Linux script using the /proc/stat file:

CPU Usage: 2.12%
CPU Usage: 4.32%
CPU Usage: 1.98%

macOS

Sample output from the macOS script using the psutil library:

CPU Usage: 8.5%
CPU Usage: 6.7%
CPU Usage: 9.1%

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