Convert the output of os.cpus() in Node.js to percentage

Question

Is there a way to convert the os.cpus() info to percentage? Just like the output of iostat (on the CPU section).

My code:

var os = require('os');
console.log(os.cpus());

The output:

[ { model: 'MacBookAir4,2',
    speed: 1800,
    times: 
     { user: 5264280,
       nice: 0,
       sys: 4001110,
       idle: 58703910,
       irq: 0 } },
  { model: 'MacBookAir4,2',
    speed: 1800,
    times: 
     { user: 2215030,
       nice: 0,
       sys: 1072600,
       idle: 64657440,
       irq: 0 } },
  { model: 'MacBookAir4,2',
    speed: 1800,
    times: 
     { user: 5973360,
       nice: 0,
       sys: 3197990,
       idle: 58773760,
       irq: 0 } },
  { model: 'MacBookAir4,2',
    speed: 1800,
    times: 
     { user: 2187650,
       nice: 0,
       sys: 1042550,
       idle: 64714820,
       irq: 0 } } ]

I would like to have the "times" metric converted to percentage, just like is show on the iostat command:

  cpu
us sy id
6  3 91

I understand that the values in the nodejs function are in CPU ticks, but I have no idea what formula should I use to convert them to percentage :)

Thanks.

Answer 1

According to the docs, times is

an object containing the number of CPU ticks spent in: user, nice, sys, idle, and irq

So you should just be able to sum the times and calculate the percentage, like below:

var cpus = os.cpus();

for(var i = 0, len = cpus.length; i < len; i++) {
    console.log("CPU %s:", i);
    var cpu = cpus[i], total = 0;

    for(var type in cpu.times) {
        total += cpu.times[type];
    }

    for(type in cpu.times) {
        console.log("\t", type, Math.round(100 * cpu.times[type] / total));
    }
}

EDIT: As Tom Frost says in the comments, this is the average usage since system boot. This is consistent with the question, since the same is true of iostat. However, iostat has the option of doing regular updates, showing the average usage since the last update. Tom's method would work well for implementing that.

Answer 2

This module, that caN be installed using NPM provides what you need:

https://github.com/oscmejia/os-utils

calle the cpuUsage(callback) method and you will get what you need.