# man > choom(1)

---
type: CommandReference
command: choom
mode: man
section: 1
source: man-pages
---

## Quick Reference
- `choom -p PID` — display OOM-killer score of a process
- `choom -p PID -n value` — change the adjust score of a process
- `choom -n value command` — run a command with a given adjust score

## Name
choom — display and adjust the Out-Of-Memory killer score

## Synopsis
`choom -p` _PID_  
`choom -p` _PID_ `-n` _NUMBER_  
`choom -n` _NUMBER_ [`--`] _command_ [_argument_ ...]

## Options
- `-p, --pid` — process ID
- `-n, --adjust` — adjust score value; range -1000 to +1000
- `-h, --help` — display help and exit
- `-V, --version` — display version and exit

## Notes
The kernel OOM killer assigns a badness score (0 = never kill, 1000 = always kill) based on a task's memory and swap usage relative to its “allowed” memory. The allowed memory context can be a cpuset, mempolicy, memory limit, or the whole system.

The adjust score is added to the badness score before a victim is chosen. Valid adjust values are -1000 to +1000. A value of -1000 effectively disables OOM killing for that task (score forced to 0). For root processes, current memory usage is discounted by 3%.

Example meanings:
- `+500` → allows remaining tasks to use ~50% more memory before this task is considered
- `-500` → discounts 50% of the task's allowed memory from the score calculation

## Examples
Display the OOM score of process 1234:
shell
choom -p 1234
Set the adjust score of process 1234 to -500:
shell
choom -p 1234 -n -500
Start `myapp` with an adjust score of 200:
shell
choom -n 200 myapp
## See Also
- [`proc(5)`](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/proc.5.html)