vmstat 1 | python watcher.py 12 5000 5

watcher.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

import sys

col = int(sys.argv[1])
val = int(sys.argv[2])
limit = int(sys.argv[3])

count = 0

def get_l():
    l = sys.stdin.readline().strip()
    while l.startswith('procs') or l.startswith('r'):
        l = sys.stdin.readline().strip()
    return l

l = get_l()
while l is not None:
    tokens = l.split()
    if val < int(tokens[col - 1]):
        count += 1
        if limit <= count:
            print "Hit Limit."
            count = 0
    else:
        count = 0
    l = get_l()