How to permanently set refresh interval for top command?
Solution 1:
Personal configurations such as this may be saved to your ~/.toprc file by hitting SHIFT+W in the interactive top session.
From man top (or online):
6b. PERSONAL Configuration File This file is written as `$HOME/.your-name-4-top' + `rc'. Use the `W' interactive command to create it or update it.
Solution 2:
Why not just launch top with a preset interval like this top -d 5. Which will make top start preconfigured to update every 5 seconds.