Use free with '-s' option to get a continuous update of memory usage info

Free command gives a concise information of the memory usage of the system. The program displays the info once and exits. You can use the ‘-s’ option to update the output continuously. Unlike top command, free doesn’t use ncurses, hence instead of a page refresh emulation its simply continuous printing. But it sure does the job.

Along with the ‘-s’ option you need to specify the result delay duration in seconds; decimal works too.

[shredder12]$ free -s 3

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:   2516       1322       1194          0         69        506
-/+ buffers/cache: 746       1770
Swap:  1906          0         1906

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:   2516       1332       1184          0         69        506
-/+ buffers/cache: 751       1765
Swap:  1906          0          1906

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:   2516       1320       1196          0         69        506
-/+ buffers/cache: 744       1772
Swap:  1906          0          1906