NICE(1) User Commands NICE(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

nice - run a program with modified scheduling priority

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**nice** \[*OPTION*] \[*COMMAND* \[*ARG*]...]

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Run COMMAND with an adjusted niceness, which affects process scheduling. With no COMMAND, print the current niceness. Niceness values range from **-20** (most favorable to the process) to 19 (least favorable to the process).

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

[**-n, --adjustment=N**](#n,)

add integer N to the niceness (default 10)

[**--help**](#help)

display this help and exit

[**--version**](#version)

output version information and exit

Your shell may have its own version of nice, which usually supersedes the version described here. Please refer to your shell's documentation for details about the options it supports.

## [Exit status:](#Exit_status:)

125

if the nice command itself fails

126

if COMMAND is found but cannot be invoked

127

if COMMAND cannot be found

\-

the exit status of COMMAND otherwise

# [AUTHOR](#AUTHOR)

Written by David MacKenzie.

# [REPORTING BUGS](#REPORTING_BUGS)

Report bugs to: <bug-coreutils@gnu.org>.  
Report any translation bugs to: <https://translationproject.org/team/>.  
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>  
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

# [COPYRIGHT](#COPYRIGHT)

Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.  
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**nice**(2)](/man/os/coreutils/nice.2), [**renice**(1)](/man/os/coreutils/renice.1)

Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/nice>  
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) nice invocation'

October 2026 GNU coreutils 9.12

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Document: nice(1) from coreutils 9.12-r4 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/coreutils.git