1ps(1) User Commands ps(1)
2
6 ps - report process status
7
9 ps [-aAcdefjHlLPyZ] [-g grplist] [-h lgrplist]
10 [-n namelist] [-o format]... [-p proclist]
11 [-s sidlist] [-t term] [-u uidlist] [-U uidlist]
12 [-G gidlist] [-z zonelist]
13
16 The ps command prints information about active processes. Without
17 options, ps prints information about processes that have the same
18 effective user ID and the same controlling terminal as the invoker. The
19 output contains only the process ID, terminal identifier, cumulative
20 execution time, and the command name. Otherwise, the information that
21 is displayed is controlled by the options.
22 Some options accept lists as arguments. Items in a list can be either
25 separated by commas or else enclosed in quotes and separated by commas
26 or spaces. Values for proclist and grplist must be numeric.
27
29 The following options are supported:
30 -a Lists information about all processes most frequently
32 requested: all those except session leaders and pro‐
33 cesses not associated with a terminal.
34 -A Lists information for all processes. Identical to -e,
37 below.
38 -c Prints information in a format that reflects scheduler
41 properties as described in priocntl(1). The -c option
42 affects the output of the -f and -l options, as
43 described below.
44 -d Lists information about all processes except session
47 leaders.
48 -e Lists information about every process now running.
51 When the -eoption is specified, options -z, -t, -u, -U,
53 -g, -G, -p, -g, -s and -a options have no effect.
54 -f Generates a full listing. (See below for significance of
57 columns in a full listing.)
58 -g grplist Lists only process data whose group leader's ID num‐
61 ber(s) appears in grplist. (A group leader is a process
62 whose process ID number is identical to its process
63 group ID number.)
64 -G gidlist Lists information for processes whose real group ID num‐
67 bers are given in gidlist. The gidlist must be a single
68 argument in the form of a blank- or comma-separated
69 list.
70 -h lgrplist Lists only the processes homed to the specified lgr‐
73 plist. Nothing is listed for any invalid group specified
74 in lgrplist.
75 -H Prints the home lgroup of the process under an addi‐
78 tional column header, LGRP.
79 -j Prints session ID and process group ID.
82 -l Generates a long listing. (See below.)
85 -L Prints information about each light weight process (lwp)
88 in each selected process. (See below.)
89 -n namelist Specifies the name of an alternative system namelist
92 file in place of the default. This option is accepted
93 for compatibility, but is ignored.
94 -o format Prints information according to the format specification
97 given in format. This is fully described in DISPLAY FOR‐
98 MATS. Multiple -o options can be specified; the format
99 specification is interpreted as the space-character-sep‐
100 arated concatenation of all the format option-arguments.
101 -p proclist Lists only process data whose process ID numbers are
104 given in proclist.
105 -P Prints the number of the processor to which the process
108 or lwp is bound, if any, under an additional column
109 header, PSR.
110 -s sidlist Lists information on all session leaders whose IDs
113 appear in sidlist.
114 -t term Lists only process data associated with term. Terminal
117 identifiers are specified as a device file name, and an
118 identifier. For example, term/a, or pts/0.
119 -u uidlist Lists only process data whose effective user ID number
122 or login name is given in uidlist. In the listing, the
123 numerical user ID is printed unless you give the -f
124 option, which prints the login name.
125 -U uidlist Lists information for processes whose real user ID num‐
128 bers or login names are given in uidlist. The uidlist
129 must be a single argument in the form of a blank- or
130 comma-separated list.
131 -y Under a long listing (-l), omits the obsolete F and ADDR
134 columns and includes an RSS column to report the resi‐
135 dent set size of the process. Under the -y option, both
136 RSS and SZ (see below) is reported in units of kilobytes
137 instead of pages.
138 -z zonelist Lists only processes in the specified zones. Zones can
141 be specified either by name or ID. This option is only
142 useful when executed in the global zone.
143 -Z Prints the name of the zone with which the process is
146 associated under an additional column header, ZONE. The
147 ZONE column width is limited to 8 characters. Use ps -eZ
148 for a quick way to see information about every process
149 now running along with the associated zone name. Use
150 ps -eo zone,uid,pid,ppid,time,comm,...
152 to see zone names wider than 8 characters.
155 Many of the options shown are used to select processes to list. If any
159 are specified, the default list is ignored and ps selects the processes
160 represented by the inclusive OR of all the selection-criteria options.
161
163 Under the -f option, ps tries to determine the command name and argu‐
164 ments given when the process was created by examining the user block.
165 Failing this, the command name is printed, as it would have appeared
166 without the -f option, in square brackets.
167 The column headings and the meaning of the columns in a ps listing are
170 given below; the letters f and l indicate the option (full or long,
171 respectively) that causes the corresponding heading to appear; all
172 means that the heading always appears. Note: These two options deter‐
173 mine only what information is provided for a process; they do not
174 determine which processes are listed.
175 F(l) Flags (hexadecimal and additive) associated with the
177 process. These flags are available for historical pur‐
178 poses; no meaning should be currently ascribed to them.
179 S (l) The state of the process:
182 O Process is running on a processor.
184 S Sleeping: process is waiting for an event to com‐
187 plete.
188 R Runnable: process is on run queue.
191 T Process is stopped, either by a job control signal
194 or because it is being traced.
195 W Waiting: process is waiting for CPU usage to drop to
198 the CPU-caps enforced limits.
199 Z Zombie state: process terminated and parent not
202 waiting.
203 UID (f,l) The effective user ID number of the process (the login
207 name is printed under the -f option).
208 PID(all) The process ID of the process (this datum is necessary in
211 order to kill a process).
212 PPID(f,l) The process ID of the parent process.
215 C(f,l) Processor utilization for scheduling (obsolete). Not
218 printed when the -c option is used.
219 CLS(f,l) Scheduling class. Printed only when the -c option is
222 used.
223 PRI(l) The priority of the process. Without the -c option,
226 higher numbers mean lower priority. With the -c option,
227 higher numbers mean higher priority.
228 NI(l) Nice value, used in priority computation. Not printed
231 when the -c option is used. Only processes in the certain
232 scheduling classes have a nice value.
233 ADDR(l) The memory address of the process.
236 SZ(l) The total size of the process in virtual memory, includ‐
239 ing all mapped files and devices, in pages. See page‐
240 size(1).
241 WCHAN(l) The address of an event for which the process is sleeping
244 (if blank, the process is running).
245 STIME(f) The starting time of the process, given in hours, min‐
248 utes, and seconds. (A process begun more than twenty-four
249 hours before the ps inquiry is executed is given in
250 months and days.)
251 TTY(all) The controlling terminal for the process (the message, ?,
254 is printed when there is no controlling terminal).
255 TIME(all) The cumulative execution time for the process.
258 LTIME(all) The execution time for the lwp being reported.
261 CMD(all) The command name (the full command name and its argu‐
264 ments, up to a limit of 80 characters, are printed under
265 the -f option).
266 The following two additional columns are printed when the -j option is
270 specified:
271 PGID The process ID of the process group leader.
273 SID The process ID of the session leader.
276 The following two additional columns are printed when the -L option is
280 specified:
281 LWP The lwp ID of the lwp being reported.
283 NLWP The number of lwps in the process (if -f is also specified).
286 Under the -L option, one line is printed for each lwp in the process
290 and the time-reporting fields STIME and LTIME show the values for the
291 lwp, not the process. A traditional single-threaded process contains
292 only one lwp.
293 A process that has exited and has a parent, but has not yet been waited
296 for by the parent, is marked <defunct>.
297 -o format
299 The -o option allows the output format to be specified under user con‐
300 trol.
301 The format specification must be a list of names presented as a single
304 argument, blank- or comma-separated. Each variable has a default
305 header. The default header can be overridden by appending an equals
306 sign and the new text of the header. The rest of the characters in the
307 argument is used as the header text. The fields specified are written
308 in the order specified on the command line, and should be arranged in
309 columns in the output. The field widths are selected by the system to
310 be at least as wide as the header text (default or overridden value).
311 If the header text is null, such as -o user=, the field width is at
312 least as wide as the default header text. If all header text fields are
313 null, no header line is written.
314 The following names are recognized in the POSIX locale:
317 user The effective user ID of the process. This is the textual
319 user ID, if it can be obtained and the field width permits,
320 or a decimal representation otherwise.
321 ruser The real user ID of the process. This is the textual user ID,
324 if it can be obtained and the field width permits, or a deci‐
325 mal representation otherwise.
326 group The effective group ID of the process. This is the textual
329 group ID, if it can be obtained and the field width permits,
330 or a decimal representation otherwise.
331 rgroup The real group ID of the process. This is the textual group
334 ID, if it can be obtained and the field width permits, or a
335 decimal representation otherwise.
336 pid The decimal value of the process ID.
339 ppid The decimal value of the parent process ID.
342 pgid The decimal value of the process group ID.
345 pcpu The ratio of CPU time used recently to CPU time available in
348 the same period, expressed as a percentage. The meaning of
349 ``recently'' in this context is unspecified. The CPU time
350 available is determined in an unspecified manner.
351 vsz The total size of the process in virtual memory, in kilo‐
354 bytes.
355 nice The decimal value of the system scheduling priority of the
358 process. See nice(1).
359 etime In the POSIX locale, the elapsed time since the process was
362 started, in the form:
363 [[dd-]hh:]mm:ss
365 where
367 dd is the number of days
369 hh is the number of hours
372 mm is the number of minutes
375 ss is the number of seconds
378 The dd field is a decimal integer. The hh, mm and ss fields
380 is two-digit decimal integers padded on the left with zeros.
381 time In the POSIX locale, the cumulative CPU time of the process
384 in the form:
385 [dd-]hh:mm:ss
387 The dd, hh, mm, and ss fields is as described in the etime
389 specifier.
390 tty The name of the controlling terminal of the process (if any)
393 in the same format used by the who(1) command.
394 comm The name of the command being executed (argv[0] value) as a
397 string.
398 args The command with all its arguments as a string. The implemen‐
401 tation might truncate this value to the field width; it is
402 implementation-dependent whether any further truncation
403 occurs. It is unspecified whether the string represented is a
404 version of the argument list as it was passed to the command
405 when it started, or is a version of the arguments as they
406 might have been modified by the application. Applications
407 cannot depend on being able to modify their argument list and
408 having that modification be reflected in the output of ps.
409 The Solaris implementation limits the string to 80 bytes; the
410 string is the version of the argument list as it was passed
411 to the command when it started.
412 The following names are recognized in the Solaris implementation:
416 f Flags (hexadecimal and additive) associated with the
418 process.
419 s The state of the process.
422 c Processor utilization for scheduling (obsolete).
425 uid The effective user ID number of the process as a decimal
428 integer.
429 ruid The real user ID number of the process as a decimal integer.
432 gid The effective group ID number of the process as a decimal
435 integer.
436 rgid The real group ID number of the process as a decimal inte‐
439 ger.
440 projid The project ID number of the process as a decimal integer.
443 project The project ID of the process as a textual value if that
446 value can be obtained; otherwise, as a decimal integer.
447 zoneid The zone ID number of the process as a decimal integer.
450 zone The zone ID of the process as a textual value if that value
453 can be obtained; otherwise, as a decimal integer.
454 sid The process ID of the session leader.
457 taskid The task ID of the process.
460 class The scheduling class of the process.
463 pri The priority of the process. Higher numbers mean higher pri‐
466 ority.
467 opri The obsolete priority of the process. Lower numbers mean
470 higher priority.
471 lwp The decimal value of the lwp ID. Requesting this formatting
474 option causes one line to be printed for each lwp in the
475 process.
476 nlwp The number of lwps in the process.
479 psr The number of the processor to which the process or lwp is
482 bound.
483 pset The ID of the processor set to which the process or lwp is
486 bound.
487 addr The memory address of the process.
490 osz The total size of the process in virtual memory, in pages.
493 wchan The address of an event for which the process is sleeping
496 (if −, the process is running).
497 stime The starting time or date of the process, printed with no
500 blanks.
501 rss The resident set size of the process, in kilobytes. The rss
504 value reported by ps is an estimate provided by proc(4) that
505 might underestimate the actual resident set size. Users who
506 wish to get more accurate usage information for capacity
507 planning should use pmap(1) -x instead.
508 pmem The ratio of the process's resident set size to the physical
511 memory on the machine, expressed as a percentage.
512 fname The first 8 bytes of the base name of the process's exe‐
515 cutable file.
516 ctid The contract ID of the process contract the process is a
519 member of as a decimal integer.
520 lgrp The home lgroup of the process.
523 Only comm and args are allowed to contain blank characters; all others,
527 including the Solaris implementation variables, are not.
528 The following table specifies the default header to be used in the
531 POSIX locale corresponding to each format specifier.
532 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
537 │ Format Default Format Default │
538 │ Specifier Header Specifier Header │
539 ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
540 │ args COMMAND ppid PPID │
541 │ comm COMMAND rgroup RGROUP │
542 │ etime ELAPSED ruser RUSER │
543 │ group GROUP time TIME │
544 │ nice NI tty TT │
545 │ pcpu %CPU user USER │
546 │ pgid PGID vsz VSZ │
547 │ pid PID │
548 └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
549 The following table lists the Solaris implementation format specifiers
552 and the default header used with each.
553 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
558 │ Format Default Format Default │
559 │ Specifier Header Specifier Header │
560 ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
561 │ addr ADDR projid PROJID │
562 │ c C project PROJECT │
563 │ class CLS psr PSR │
564 │ f F rgid RGID │
565 │ fname COMMAND rss RSS │
566 │ gid GID ruid RUID │
567 │ lgrp LGRP s S │
568 │ lwp LWP sid SID │
569 │ nlwp NLWP stime STIME │
570 │ opri PRI taskid TASKID │
571 │ osz SZ uid UID │
572 │ pmem %MEM wchan WCHAN │
573 │ pri PRI zone ZONE │
574 │ ctid CTID zoneid ZONEID │
575 └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
576
578 Example 1 Using ps Command
579 The command:
582 example% ps -o user,pid,ppid=MOM -o args
585 writes the following in the POSIX locale:
590 USER PID MOM COMMAND
593 helene 34 12 ps -o uid,pid,ppid=MOM -o args
594 The contents of the COMMAND field need not be the same due to possible
599 truncation.
600
603 See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
604 that affect the execution of ps: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES,
605 LC_TIME, and NLSPATH.
606 COLUMNS Override the system-selected horizontal screen size, used to
608 determine the number of text columns to display.
609
612 The following exit values are returned:
613 0 Successful completion.
615 >0 An error occurred.
618
621 /dev/pts/*
622 /dev/term/* terminal (``tty'') names searcher files
625 /etc/passwd UID information supplier
628 /proc/* process control files
631
634 See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
635 ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
640 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
641 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
642 │Availability │SUNWcsu │
643 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
644 │CSI │Enabled (see USAGE) │
645 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
646 │Interface Stability │Committed │
647 ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
648 │Standard │See standards(5). │
649 └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
650
652 kill(1), lgrpinfo(1), nice(1), pagesize(1), pmap(1), priocntl(1),
653 who(1), getty(1M), proc(4), ttysrch(4), attributes(5), environ(5),
654 resource_controls(5), standards(5), zones(5)
655
657 Things can change while ps is running. The snapshot it gives is true
658 only for a split-second, and it might not be accurate by the time you
659 see it. Some data printed for defunct processes is irrelevant.
660 If no options to select processes are specified, ps reports all pro‐
663 cesses associated with the controlling terminal. If there is no con‐
664 trolling terminal, there is no report other than the header.
665 ps -ef or ps -o stime might not report the actual start of a tty login
668 session, but rather an earlier time, when a getty was last respawned on
669 the tty line.
670 ps is CSI-enabled except for login names (usernames).
673SunOS 5.11 16 Aug 2009 ps(1)