Useful Commands to Get CPU Information on Linux

Just to give you an overview, we will query information such as CPU architecture, vendor_id, model, model name, number of CPU cores, speed of each core and lots more.
Essentially, the /proc/cpuinfo contains this all info, every other command/utility gets its output from this file.

1. cpuid Command – Shows x86 CPU

The command cpuid dumps complete information about the CPU(s) collected from the CPUID instruction, and also discover the exact model of x86 CPU(s) from that information.

Make sure to install it before running it.

$ sudo apt install cpuid        #Debian/Ubuntu systems
$ sudo yum install cpuid    #RHEL/CentOS systems 
$ sudo dnf install cpuid    #Fedora 22+ 

Once installed, run cpuid to collect information concerning the x86 CPU.

$ cpuid

Result:

CPU 0:
   vendor_id = "GenuineIntel"
   version information (1/eax):
      processor type  = primary processor (0)
      family          = Intel Pentium Pro/II/III/Celeron/Core/Core 2/Atom, AMD Athlon/Duron, Cyrix M2, VIA C3 (6)
      model           = 0x5 (5)
      stepping id     = 0x1 (1)
      extended family = 0x0 (0)
      extended model  = 0x4 (4)
      (simple synth)  = Intel Mobile Core i3-4000Y / Mobile Core i5-4000Y / Mobile Core i7-4000Y / Mobile Pentium 3500U/3600U/3500Y / Mobile Celeron 2900U (Mobile U/Y) (Haswell), 22nm
   miscellaneous (1/ebx):
      process local APIC physical ID = 0x0 (0)
      cpu count                      = 0x10 (16)
      CLFLUSH line size              = 0x8 (8)
      brand index                    = 0x0 (0)
   brand id = 0x00 (0): unknown
   feature information (1/edx):
      x87 FPU on chip                        = true
      virtual-8086 mode enhancement          = true
      debugging extensions                   = true
      page size extensions                   = true
      time stamp counter                     = true
      RDMSR and WRMSR support                = true
      physical address extensions            = true

2. Get CPU Info Using cat Command

You can simply view the information of your system CPU by viewing the contents of the /proc/cpuinfo file with the help of cat command as follows:

$ cat /proc/cpuinfo

Result:

processor   : 0
vendor_id   : GenuineIntel
cpu family  : 6
model       : 69
model name  : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4210U CPU @ 1.70GHz
stepping    : 1
microcode   : 0x1c
cpu MHz     : 1700.062
cache size  : 3072 KB
physical id : 0
siblings    : 4
core id     : 0
cpu cores   : 2
apicid      : 0
initial apicid  : 0
fpu     : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level : 13
wp      : yes
flags       : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf eagerfpu pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm epb tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid xsaveopt dtherm ida arat pln pts
bugs        :
bogomips    : 4788.92
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual

3. lshw Tool – List Hardware Configuration

lshw is a minimal tool for gathering in-depth information on the hardware configuration of a computer. You can use the -C option to select the hardware class, CPU in this case:

$ sudo lshw -C CPU

Result:

*-cpu                   
       description: CPU
       product: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4210U CPU @ 1.70GHz
       vendor: Intel Corp.
       physical id: 4
       bus info: cpu@0
       version: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4210U CPU @ 1.70GHz
       serial: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
       slot: U3E1
       size: 2626MHz
       capacity: 2700MHz
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 100MHz
       capabilities: x86-64 fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf eagerfpu pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm abm epb tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid xsaveopt dtherm ida arat pln pts cpufreq
       configuration: cores=2 enabledcores=2 threads=4

4. hwinfo – Shows Present Hardware Info

hwinfo is used to extract info about hardware present in a Linux system. To display info about your CPU, use the --cpu

$ hwinfo --cpu

Result:

01: None 00.0: 10103 CPU                                        
  [Created at cpu.460]
  Unique ID: rdCR.j8NaKXDZtZ6
  Hardware Class: cpu
  Arch: X86-64
  Vendor: "GenuineIntel"
  Model: 6.69.1 "Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4210U CPU @ 1.70GHz"
  Features: fpu,vme,de,pse,tsc,msr,pae,mce,cx8,apic,sep,mtrr,pge,mca,cmov,pat,pse36,clflush,dts,acpi,mmx,fxsr,sse,sse2,ss,ht,tm,pbe,syscall,nx,pdpe1gb,rdtscp,lm,constant_tsc,arch_perfmon,pebs,bts,rep_good,nopl,xtopology,nonstop_tsc,aperfmperf,eagerfpu,pni,pclmulqdq,dtes64,monitor,ds_cpl,vmx,est,tm2,ssse3,sdbg,fma,cx16,xtpr,pdcm,pcid,sse4_1,sse4_2,movbe,popcnt,tsc_deadline_timer,aes,xsave,avx,f16c,rdrand,lahf_lm,abm,epb,tpr_shadow,vnmi,flexpriority,ept,vpid,fsgsbase,tsc_adjust,bmi1,avx2,smep,bmi2,erms,invpcid,xsaveopt,dtherm,ida,arat,pln,pts
  Clock: 2080 MHz
  BogoMips: 4788.92
  Cache: 3072 kb
  Units/Processor: 16
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

That’s it for now! You can share with us additional ways of extracting CPU information in Linux via the Response form below.