nice

Run a command with modified scheduling priority, print or modify the scheduling priority of a job.

SYNTAX
      nice [OPTION]... [COMMAND [ARG]...]

OPTION
      -n MyADJUSTMENT
      -MyADJUSTMENT
      --adjustment=MyADJUSTMENT

           Adds MyADJUSTMENT instead of 10 to the command's priority.

If no arguments are given, `nice' prints the current scheduling priority, which it inherited. Otherwise, `nice' runs the given COMMAND with its scheduling priority adjusted.

If no ADJUSTMENT is given, the priority of the command is incremented by 10. You must have appropriate privileges to specify a negative adjustment.

The priority can be adjusted by `nice' over the range of -20 (the highest priority) to 19 (the lowest).

Because most shells have a built-in command by the same name, using the unadorned command name in a script or interactively may get you different functionality than that described here.

"Work is achieved by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence" - Laurence J. Peter (The Peter Principle)

Related commands:

nohup - Run a command immune to hangups
sync - Synchronize data on disk with memory
sleep - Delay for a specified time

Equivalent Windows NT commands:

START /HIGH - Start a program with `high' scheduling priority

The priority of an already running process can be modified with the Task Manager GUI.