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nice(S)


nice -- change priority of a process

Syntax

cc ... -lc

int nice (incr)
int incr;

Description

The nice system call adds the value of incr to the nice value of the calling process. A process's nice value is a non-negative number for which a more positive value results in lower CPU priority.

A maximum nice value of 39 and a minimum nice value of 0 are imposed by the system. (The default nice value is 20.) Requests for values above or below these limits result in the nice value being set to the corresponding limit.


[EPERM]
The nice system call fails and does not change the nice value if incr is negative or greater than 39, and the effective user ID of the calling process is not super user.

Diagnostics

Upon successful completion, nice returns the new nice value minus 20. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.

See also

exec(S), nice(C)

Standards conformance

nice is conformant with:

X/Open Portability Guide, Issue 3, 1989 .


© 2003 Caldera International, Inc. All rights reserved.
SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.7 -- 11 February 2003