How to clear memory cache in Linux [duplicate]

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Is there any command that by using I can clean the cache in RHEL?

I used this command:

sync; echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

but it didn't work.

What's wrong with having something cached? It could speed up access to the cached data. — ott--, Dec 15, 2012 at 14:43
There are many reasons why the cache wouldn’t be cleared. If the file is in use or if the cache size is due to tmpfs or ramfs. I have blogged about different possibilities of cache here. — Joe, Nov 18, 2014 at 15:58
@ott--: simple, if you want to run high level performance tests (run version X of A against version X+1 of A to measure differences), how do you eliminate the file system cache from your testing? Because if you don't you'll skew your tests. You could by rebooting, but flushing the cache is certainly another option. — 0xC0000022L, Oct 20, 2016 at 13:23

Louis Go · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-31 07:04:21Z

Depending on what you want to do you can use 1,2 or 3

drop_caches

Writing to this will cause the kernel to drop clean caches, dentries and inodes from memory, causing that memory to become free.

To free pagecache:

echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

To free dentries and inodes:

echo 2 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

To free pagecache, dentries and inodes:

echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

As this is a non-destructive operation and dirty objects are not freeable, the user should run 'sync' first.

If you want to run it with sudo, ( thanks for Evhz's comment ):

sudo sh -c "echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches" # or 2, 3 per your needs.

Renan · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-15 16:27:50Z

16

Try sync; echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches.

Renan

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answered Dec 15, 2012 at 16:06

Len

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6

sudo sh -c "echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches"
– Evhz
Dec 22, 2017 at 8:34
@Evhz Your comment should be a new answer and the accepted answer. The current accepted solution gives "Denied" even if using sudo echo 1 > ...
– Basj
Jul 28, 2021 at 9:22

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