1PS(1) Linux User's Manual PS(1)
2
6 ps - report a snapshot of the current processes.
7
9 ps [options]
10
12 ps displays information about a selection of the active processes. If
13 you want a repetitive update of the selection and the displayed
14 information, use top(1) instead.
15 This version of ps accepts several kinds of options:
17 1 UNIX options, which may be grouped and must be preceded by a dash.
18 2 BSD options, which may be grouped and must not be used with a dash.
19 3 GNU long options, which are preceded by two dashes.
20 Options of different types may be freely mixed, but conflicts can
22 appear. There are some synonymous options, which are functionally
23 identical, due to the many standards and ps implementations that this
24 ps is compatible with.
25 Note that "ps -aux" is distinct from "ps aux". The POSIX and UNIX
27 standards require that "ps -aux" print all processes owned by a user
28 named "x", as well as printing all processes that would be selected by
29 the -a option. If the user named "x" does not exist, this ps may
30 interpret the command as "ps aux" instead and print a warning. This
31 behavior is intended to aid in transitioning old scripts and habits. It
32 is fragile, subject to change, and thus should not be relied upon.
33 By default, ps selects all processes with the same effective user ID
35 (euid=EUID) as the current user and associated with the same terminal
36 as the invoker. It displays the process ID (pid=PID), the terminal
37 associated with the process (tname=TTY), the cumulated CPU time in
38 [dd-]hh:mm:ss format (time=TIME), and the executable name (ucmd=CMD).
39 Output is unsorted by default.
40 The use of BSD-style options will add process state (stat=STAT) to the
42 default display and show the command args (args=COMMAND) instead of the
43 executable name. You can override this with the PS_FORMAT environment
44 variable. The use of BSD-style options will also change the process
45 selection to include processes on other terminals (TTYs) that are owned
46 by you; alternately, this may be described as setting the selection to
47 be the set of all processes filtered to exclude processes owned by
48 other users or not on a terminal. These effects are not considered when
49 options are described as being "identical" below, so -M will be
50 considered identical to Z and so on.
51 Except as described below, process selection options are additive. The
53 default selection is discarded, and then the selected processes are
54 added to the set of processes to be displayed. A process will thus be
55 shown if it meets any of the given selection criteria.
56
58 To see every process on the system using standard syntax:
59 ps -e
60 ps -ef
61 ps -eF
62 ps -ely
63 To see every process on the system using BSD syntax:
65 ps ax
66 ps axu
67 To print a process tree:
69 ps -ejH
70 ps axjf
71 To get info about threads:
73 ps -eLf
74 ps axms
75 To get security info:
77 ps -eo euser,ruser,suser,fuser,f,comm,label
78 ps axZ
79 ps -eM
80 To see every process running as root (real & effective ID) in user
82 format:
83 ps -U root -u root u
84 To see every process with a user-defined format:
86 ps -eo pid,tid,class,rtprio,ni,pri,psr,pcpu,stat,wchan:14,comm
87 ps axo stat,euid,ruid,tty,tpgid,sess,pgrp,ppid,pid,pcpu,comm
88 ps -eopid,tt,user,fname,tmout,f,wchan
89 Print only the process IDs of syslogd:
91 ps -C syslogd -o pid=
92 Print only the name of PID 42:
94 ps -q 42 -o comm=
95
97 -A Select all processes. Identical to -e.
98 -N Select all processes except those that fulfill the
101 specified conditions. (negates the selection) Identical
102 to --deselect.
103 T Select all processes associated with this terminal.
106 Identical to the t option without any argument.
107 -a Select all processes except both session leaders (see
110 getsid(2)) and processes not associated with a
111 terminal.
112 a Lift the BSD-style "only yourself" restriction, which
115 is imposed upon the set of all processes when some
116 BSD-style (without "-") options are used or when the ps
117 personality setting is BSD-like. The set of processes
118 selected in this manner is in addition to the set of
119 processes selected by other means. An alternate
120 description is that this option causes ps to list all
121 processes with a terminal (tty), or to list all
122 processes when used together with the x option.
123 -d Select all processes except session leaders.
126 -e Select all processes. Identical to -A.
129 g Really all, even session leaders. This flag is obsolete
132 and may be discontinued in a future release. It is
133 normally implied by the a flag, and is only useful when
134 operating in the sunos4 personality.
135 r Restrict the selection to only running processes.
138 x Lift the BSD-style "must have a tty" restriction, which
141 is imposed upon the set of all processes when some
142 BSD-style (without "-") options are used or when the ps
143 personality setting is BSD-like. The set of processes
144 selected in this manner is in addition to the set of
145 processes selected by other means. An alternate
146 description is that this option causes ps to list all
147 processes owned by you (same EUID as ps), or to list
148 all processes when used together with the a option.
149 --deselect Select all processes except those that fulfill the
152 specified conditions. (negates the selection) Identical
153 to -N.
154
157 These options accept a single argument in the form of a blank-separated
158 or comma-separated list. They can be used multiple times.
159 For example: ps -p "1 2" -p 3,4
160 -C cmdlist Select by command name.
162 This selects the processes whose executable name is
163 given in cmdlist.
164 -G grplist Select by real group ID (RGID) or name.
167 This selects the processes whose real group name or ID
168 is in the grplist list. The real group ID identifies
169 the group of the user who created the process, see
170 getgid(2).
171 U userlist Select by effective user ID (EUID) or name.
174 This selects the processes whose effective user name or
175 ID is in userlist. The effective user ID describes the
176 user whose file access permissions are used by the
177 process (see geteuid(2)). Identical to -u and --user.
178 -U userlist select by real user ID (RUID) or name.
181 It selects the processes whose real user name or ID is
182 in the userlist list. The real user ID identifies the
183 user who created the process, see getuid(2).
184 -g grplist Select by session OR by effective group name.
187 Selection by session is specified by many standards,
188 but selection by effective group is the logical
189 behavior that several other operating systems use. This
190 ps will select by session when the list is completely
191 numeric (as sessions are). Group ID numbers will work
192 only when some group names are also specified. See the
193 -s and --group options.
194 p pidlist Select by process ID. Identical to -p and --pid.
197 -p pidlist Select by PID.
200 This selects the processes whose process ID numbers
201 appear in pidlist. Identical to p and --pid.
202 q pidlist Quick select by process ID. Identical to -q
205 and --quick-pid.
206 -q pidlist Quick select by PID.
209 This selects the processes whose process ID numbers
210 appear in pidlist. With this option ps reads the
211 necessary info only for the pids listed in the pidlist
212 and doesn't apply additional filtering rules. The order
213 of pids is unsorted and preserved. No additional
214 selection options, sorting and forest type listings are
215 allowed in this mode. Identical to q and --quick-pid.
216 -s sesslist Select by session ID.
219 This selects the processes with a session ID specified
220 in sesslist.
221 t ttylist Select by tty. Nearly identical to -t and --tty, but
224 can also be used with an empty ttylist to indicate the
225 terminal associated with ps. Using the T option is
226 considered cleaner than using T with an empty ttylist.
227 -t ttylist Select by tty.
230 This selects the processes associated with the
231 terminals given in ttylist. Terminals (ttys, or screens
232 for text output) can be specified in several forms:
233 /dev/ttyS1, ttyS1, S1. A plain "-" may be used to
234 select processes not attached to any terminal.
235 -u userlist Select by effective user ID (EUID) or name.
238 This selects the processes whose effective user name or
239 ID is in userlist. The effective user ID describes the
240 user whose file access permissions are used by the
241 process (see geteuid(2)). Identical to U and --user.
242 --Group grplist Select by real group ID (RGID) or name. Identical to
245 -G.
246 --User userlist Select by real user ID (RUID) or name. Identical to -U.
249 --group grplist Select by effective group ID (EGID) or name.
252 This selects the processes whose effective group name
253 or ID is in grouplist. The effective group ID describes
254 the group whose file access permissions are used by the
255 process (see geteuid(2)). The -g option is often an
256 alternative to --group.
257 --pid pidlist Select by process ID. Identical to -p and p.
260 --ppid pidlist Select by parent process ID. This selects the processes
263 with a parent process ID in pidlist. That is, it
264 selects processes that are children of those listed in
265 pidlist.
266 --quick-pid pidlist
269 Quick select by process ID. Identical to -q and q.
270 --sid sesslist Select by session ID. Identical to -s.
273 --tty ttylist Select by terminal. Identical to -t and t.
276 --user userlist Select by effective user ID (EUID) or name. Identical
279 to -u and U.
280 -123 Identical to --sid 123.
283 123 Identical to --pid 123.
286
289 These options are used to choose the information displayed by ps. The
290 output may differ by personality.
291 -F extra full format. See the -f option, which -F implies.
293 -O format is like -o, but preloaded with some default columns.
296 Identical to -o pid,format,state,tname,time,command or
297 -o pid,format,tname,time,cmd, see -o below.
298 O format is preloaded o (overloaded).
301 The BSD O option can act like -O (user-defined output
302 format with some common fields predefined) or can be
303 used to specify sort order. Heuristics are used to
304 determine the behavior of this option. To ensure that
305 the desired behavior is obtained (sorting or
306 formatting), specify the option in some other way (e.g.
307 with -O or --sort). When used as a formatting option,
308 it is identical to -O, with the BSD personality.
309 -M Add a column of security data. Identical to Z.
312 (for SE Linux)
313 X Register format.
316 Z Add a column of security data. Identical to -M.
319 (for SE Linux)
320 -c Show different scheduler information for the -l option.
323 -f does full-format listing. This option can be combined
326 with many other UNIX-style options to add additional
327 columns. It also causes the command arguments to be
328 printed. When used with -L, the NLWP (number of
329 threads) and LWP (thread ID) columns will be added. See
330 the c option, the format keyword args, and the format
331 keyword comm.
332 j BSD job control format.
335 -j jobs format
338 l display BSD long format.
341 -l long format. The -y option is often useful with this.
344 o format specify user-defined format. Identical to -o and
347 --format.
348 -o format user-defined format.
351 format is a single argument in the form of a
352 blank-separated or comma-separated list, which offers a
353 way to specify individual output columns. The
354 recognized keywords are described in the STANDARD
355 FORMAT SPECIFIERS section below. Headers may be renamed
356 (ps -o pid,ruser=RealUser -o comm=Command) as desired.
357 If all column headers are empty (ps -o pid= -o comm=)
358 then the header line will not be output. Column width
359 will increase as needed for wide headers; this may be
360 used to widen up columns such as WCHAN
361 (ps -o pid,wchan=WIDE-WCHAN-COLUMN -o comm). Explicit
362 width control (ps opid,wchan:42,cmd) is offered too.
363 The behavior of ps -o pid=X,comm=Y varies with
364 personality; output may be one column named "X,comm=Y"
365 or two columns named "X" and "Y". Use multiple -o
366 options when in doubt. Use the PS_FORMAT environment
367 variable to specify a default as desired; DefSysV and
368 DefBSD are macros that may be used to choose the
369 default UNIX or BSD columns.
370 s display signal format
373 u display user-oriented format
376 v display virtual memory format
379 -y Do not show flags; show rss in place of addr. This
382 option can only be used with -l.
383 -Z display security context format (SELinux, etc.)
386 --format format user-defined format. Identical to -o and o.
389 --context Display security context format. (for SE Linux)
392
395 -H show process hierarchy (forest)
396 N namelist Specify namelist file. Identical to -n, see -n above.
399 O order Sorting order. (overloaded)
402 The BSD O option can act like -O (user-defined output
403 format with some common fields predefined) or can be
404 used to specify sort order. Heuristics are used to
405 determine the behavior of this option. To ensure that
406 the desired behavior is obtained (sorting or
407 formatting), specify the option in some other way (e.g.
408 with -O or --sort).
409 For sorting, obsolete BSD O option syntax is
411 O[+|-]k1[,[+|-]k2[,...]]. It orders the processes
412 listing according to the multilevel sort specified by
413 the sequence of one-letter short keys k1, k2, ...
414 described in the OBSOLETE SORT KEYS section below.
415 The "+" is currently optional, merely re-iterating the
416 default direction on a key, but may help to distinguish
417 an O sort from an O format. The "-" reverses direction
418 only on the key it precedes.
419 S Sum up some information, such as CPU usage, from dead
422 child processes into their parent. This is useful for
423 examining a system where a parent process repeatedly
424 forks off short-lived children to do work.
425 c Show the true command name. This is derived from the
428 name of the executable file, rather than from the argv
429 value. Command arguments and any modifications to them
430 (see setproctitle(3)) are thus not shown. This option
431 effectively turns the args format keyword into the comm
432 format keyword; it is useful with the -f format option
433 and with the various BSD-style format options, which
434 all normally display the command arguments. See the -f
435 option, the format keyword args, and the format keyword
436 comm.
437 e Show the environment after the command.
440 f ASCII-art process hierarchy (forest)
443 h No header. (or, one header per screen in the BSD
446 personality)
447 The h option is problematic. Standard BSD ps uses this
448 option to print a header on each page of output, but
449 older Linux ps uses this option to totally disable the
450 header. This version of ps follows the Linux usage of
451 not printing the header unless the BSD personality has
452 been selected, in which case it prints a header on each
453 page of output. Regardless of the current personality,
454 you can use the long options --headers and --no-headers
455 to enable printing headers each page or disable headers
456 entirely, respectively.
457 k spec specify sorting order. Sorting syntax is
460 [+|-]key[,[+|-]key[,...]] Choose a multi-letter key
461 from the STANDARD FORMAT SPECIFIERS section. The "+" is
462 optional since default direction is increasing
463 numerical or lexicographic order. Identical to --sort.
464 Examples:
465 ps jaxkuid,-ppid,+pid
466 ps axk comm o comm,args
467 ps kstart_time -ef
468 -n namelist set namelist file. Identical to N.
471 The namelist file is needed for a proper WCHAN display,
472 and must match the current Linux kernel exactly for
473 correct output. Without this option, the default search
474 path for the namelist is:
475 $PS_SYSMAP
477 $PS_SYSTEM_MAP
478 /proc/*/wchan
479 /boot/System.map-`uname -r`
480 /boot/System.map
481 /lib/modules/`uname -r`/System.map
482 /usr/src/linux/System.map
483 /System.map
484 n Numeric output for WCHAN and USER. (including all types
487 of UID and GID)
488 -w Wide output. Use this option twice for unlimited width.
491 w Wide output. Use this option twice for unlimited width.
494 --cols n set screen width
497 --columns n set screen width
500 --cumulative include some dead child process data (as a sum with the
503 parent)
504 --forest ASCII art process tree
507 --headers repeat header lines, one per page of output
510 --no-headers print no header line at all
513 --lines n set screen height
516 --rows n set screen height
519 --sort spec specify sorting order. Sorting syntax is
522 [+|-]key[,[+|-]key[,...]] Choose a multi-letter key
523 from the STANDARD FORMAT SPECIFIERS section. The "+" is
524 optional since default direction is increasing
525 numerical or lexicographic order. Identical to k. For
526 example: ps jax --sort=uid,-ppid,+pid
527 --width n set screen width
530
533 H Show threads as if they were processes
534 -L Show threads, possibly with LWP and NLWP columns
536 -T Show threads, possibly with SPID column
538 m Show threads after processes
540 -m Show threads after processes
542
545 L List all format specifiers.
546 -V Print the procps version.
548 V Print the procps version.
550 --help Print a help message.
552 --info Print debugging info.
554 --version Print the procps version.
556
559 This ps works by reading the virtual files in /proc. This ps does not
560 need to be setuid kmem or have any privileges to run. Do not give this
561 ps any special permissions.
562 This ps needs access to namelist data for proper WCHAN display. For
564 kernels prior to 2.6, the System.map file must be installed.
565 CPU usage is currently expressed as the percentage of time spent
567 running during the entire lifetime of a process. This is not ideal,
568 and it does not conform to the standards that ps otherwise conforms to.
569 CPU usage is unlikely to add up to exactly 100%.
570 The SIZE and RSS fields don't count some parts of a process including
572 the page tables, kernel stack, struct thread_info, and struct
573 task_struct. This is usually at least 20 KiB of memory that is always
574 resident. SIZE is the virtual size of the process (code+data+stack).
575 Processes marked <defunct> are dead processes (so-called "zombies")
577 that remain because their parent has not destroyed them properly. These
578 processes will be destroyed by init(8) if the parent process exits.
579 If the length of the username is greater than the length of the display
581 column, the numeric user ID is displayed instead.
582
585 The sum of these values is displayed in the "F" column, which is
586 provided by the flags output specifier.
587 1 forked but didn't exec
588 4 used super-user privileges
589
591 Here are the different values that the s, stat and state output
592 specifiers (header "STAT" or "S") will display to describe the state of
593 a process.
594 D Uninterruptible sleep (usually IO)
595 R Running or runnable (on run queue)
596 S Interruptible sleep (waiting for an event to complete)
597 T Stopped, either by a job control signal or because it is being
598 traced.
599 W paging (not valid since the 2.6.xx kernel)
600 X dead (should never be seen)
601 Z Defunct ("zombie") process, terminated but not reaped by its
602 parent.
603 For BSD formats and when the stat keyword is used, additional
605 characters may be displayed:
606 < high-priority (not nice to other users)
607 N low-priority (nice to other users)
608 L has pages locked into memory (for real-time and custom IO)
609 s is a session leader
610 l is multi-threaded (using CLONE_THREAD, like NPTL pthreads do)
611 + is in the foreground process group
612
614 These keys are used by the BSD O option (when it is used for sorting).
615 The GNU --sort option doesn't use these keys, but the specifiers
616 described below in the STANDARD FORMAT SPECIFIERS section. Note that
617 the values used in sorting are the internal values ps uses and not the
618 "cooked" values used in some of the output format fields (e.g. sorting
619 on tty will sort into device number, not according to the terminal name
620 displayed). Pipe ps output into the sort(1) command if you want to sort
621 the cooked values.
622 KEY LONG DESCRIPTION
625 c cmd simple name of executable
626 C pcpu cpu utilization
627 f flags flags as in long format F field
628 g pgrp process group ID
629 G tpgid controlling tty process group ID
630 j cutime cumulative user time
631 J cstime cumulative system time
632 k utime user time
633 m min_flt number of minor page faults
634 M maj_flt number of major page faults
635 n cmin_flt cumulative minor page faults
636 N cmaj_flt cumulative major page faults
637 o session session ID
638 p pid process ID
639 P ppid parent process ID
640 r rss resident set size
641 R resident resident pages
642 s size memory size in kilobytes
643 S share amount of shared pages
644 t tty the device number of the controlling tty
645 T start_time time process was started
646 U uid user ID number
647 u user user name
648 v vsize total VM size in kB
649 y priority kernel scheduling priority
650
652 This ps supports AIX format descriptors, which work somewhat like the
653 formatting codes of printf(1) and printf(3). For example, the normal
654 default output can be produced with this: ps -eo "%p %y %x %c".
655 The NORMAL codes are described in the next section.
656 CODE NORMAL HEADER
658 %C pcpu %CPU
659 %G group GROUP
660 %P ppid PPID
661 %U user USER
662 %a args COMMAND
663 %c comm COMMAND
664 %g rgroup RGROUP
665 %n nice NI
666 %p pid PID
667 %r pgid PGID
668 %t etime ELAPSED
670 %u ruser RUSER
671 %x time TIME
672 %y tty TTY
673 %z vsz VSZ
674
677 Here are the different keywords that may be used to control the output
678 format (e.g. with option -o) or to sort the selected processes with the
679 GNU-style --sort option.
680 For example: ps -eo pid,user,args --sort user
682 This version of ps tries to recognize most of the keywords used in
684 other implementations of ps.
685 The following user-defined format specifiers may contain spaces: args,
687 cmd, comm, command, fname, ucmd, ucomm, lstart, bsdstart, start.
688 Some keywords may not be available for sorting.
690
694
696 Currently, it is the CPU time used divided by the time the
697 process has been running (cputime/realtime ratio),
698 expressed as a percentage. It will not add up to 100%
699 unless you are lucky. (alias pcpu).
700
702 memory on the machine, expressed as a percentage.
703 (alias pmem).
704
706 to the arguments may be shown. The output in this column
707 may contain spaces. A process marked <defunct> is partly
708 dead, waiting to be fully destroyed by its parent.
709 Sometimes the process args will be unavailable; when this
710 happens, ps will instead print the executable name in
711 brackets. (alias cmd, command). See also the comm format
712 keyword, the -f option, and the c option.
713 When specified last, this column will extend to the edge
714 of the display. If ps can not determine display width, as
715 when output is redirected (piped) into a file or another
716 command, the output width is undefined. (it may be 80,
717 unlimited, determined by the TERM variable, and so on) The
718 COLUMNS environment variable or --cols option may be used
719 to exactly determine the width in this case. The w or -w
720 option may be also be used to adjust width.
721
723 the width of the field, a 32-bit or 64-bit mask in
724 hexadecimal format is displayed.
725 (alias sig_block, sigmask).
726
728 than 24 hours ago, the output format is " HH:MM", else it
729 is "mmm dd" (where mmm is the three letters of the month).
730 See also lstart, start, start_time, and stime.
731
733 usually "MMM:SS", but can be shifted to the right if the
734 process used more than 999 minutes of cpu time.
735
740 value of the percent usage over the lifetime of the
741 process. (see %cpu).
742
744 the width of the field, a 32 or 64 bits mask in
745 hexadecimal format is displayed.
746 (alias sig_catch, sigcatch).
747
749
751 Field's possible values are:
752 - not reported
753 TS SCHED_OTHER
754 FF SCHED_FIFO
755 RR SCHED_RR
756 B SCHED_BATCH
757 ISO SCHED_ISO
758 IDL SCHED_IDLE
759 ? unknown value
760
762 Field's possible values are:
763 - not reported
764 TS SCHED_OTHER
765 FF SCHED_FIFO
766 RR SCHED_RR
767 B SCHED_BATCH
768 ISO SCHED_ISO
769 IDL SCHED_IDLE
770 ? unknown value
771
773
775 the command name will not be shown. A process marked
776 <defunct> is partly dead, waiting to be fully destroyed by
777 its parent. The output in this column may contain spaces.
778 (alias ucmd, ucomm). See also the args format keyword, the
779 -f option, and the c option.
780 When specified last, this column will extend to the edge
781 of the display. If ps can not determine display width, as
782 when output is redirected (piped) into a file or another
783 command, the output width is undefined. (it may be 80,
784 unlimited, determined by the TERM variable, and so on) The
785 COLUMNS environment variable or --cols option may be used
786 to exactly determine the width in this case. The w or -w
787 option may be also be used to adjust width.
788
790
792
794
796 integer. (alias gid).
797
799 textual group ID, if it can be obtained and the field
800 width permits, or a decimal representation otherwise.
801 (alias group).
802
804
806
810 form [[dd-]hh:]mm:ss.
811
813
815 if it can be obtained and the field width permits,
816 or a decimal representation otherwise. The n option can be
817 used to force the decimal representation.
818 (alias uname, user).
819
821 section. (alias flag, flags).
822
824
826 user ID, if it can be obtained and the field width
827 permits, or a decimal representation otherwise.
828 (alias fsgroup).
829
831
833
835 file. The output in this column may contain spaces.
836
838
840 user ID, if it can be obtained and the field width
841 permits, or a decimal representation otherwise.
842
844
846
848 the width of the field, a 32-bit or 64-bit mask in
849 hexadecimal format is displayed. (alias sig_ignore,
850 sigignore).
851
853 data. This is for the Mandatory Access Control ("MAC")
854 found on high-security systems.
855
857 start_time, and stime.
858
860 reported. (alias spid, tid).
861
863 to others), see nice(1). (alias nice).
864
866
868
870 sleeping (use wchan if you want the kernel function name).
871 Running tasks will display a dash ('-') in this column.
872
874
880 pending on the process are distinct from signals pending
881 on individual threads. Use the m option or the -m option
882 to see both. According to the width of the field, a 32-bit
883 or 64-bit mask in hexadecimal format is displayed.
884 (alias sig).
885
887 process group leader. (alias pgrp).
888
890
892
894
896 Possible values are:
897 - not reported
898 TS SCHED_OTHER
899 FF SCHED_FIFO
900 RR SCHED_RR
901 B SCHED_BATCH
902 ISO SCHED_ISO
903 IDL SCHED_IDLE
904 ? unknown value
905
907
909
911
913 can be obtained and the field width permits, or a decimal
914 representation otherwise.
915
917
919
921 task has used (in kiloBytes). (alias rssize, rsz).
922
924
926
928
930
932 be obtained and the field width permits, or a decimal
933 representation otherwise.
934
936 STATE CODES for the different values. See also stat if you
937 want additional information displayed. (alias state).
938
940 (SCHED_NORMAL), SCHED_FIFO, SCHED_RR, SCHED_BATCH,
941 SCHED_ISO, and SCHED_IDLE are respectively displayed as
942 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
943
945 session leader. (alias session, sid).
946
950 Displays "*" if the process is not currently running or
951 runnable.
952
954
956 can be obtained and the field width permits, or a decimal
957 representation otherwise.
958
960
962
964
966
968
970 the process were to dirty all writable pages and then be
971 swapped out. This number is very rough!
972
974
976
978 than 24 hours ago, the output format is "HH:MM:SS", else
979 it is " mmm dd" (where mmm is a three-letter month name).
980 See also lstart, bsdstart, start_time, and stime.
981
983 be displayed if the process was not started the same year
984 ps was invoked, or "mmmdd" if it was not started the same
985 day, or "HH:MM" otherwise. See also bsdstart, start,
986 lstart, and stime.
987
989 CODES for the different values meaning. See also s and
990 state if you just want the first character displayed.
991
993
995
997 can be obtained and the field width permits, or a decimal
998 representation otherwise. (alias svuser).
999
1001
1003
1005 This includes text, data, and stack space. Device mappings
1006 are currently excluded; this is subject to change. See vsz
1007 and rss.
1008
1010
1012 the process.
1013
1015
1017 (alias cputime).
1018
1021
1023 that the process is connected to, or -1 if the process is
1024 not connected to a tty.
1025
1027
1029
1031
1033
1035
1037
1039
1041
1043 (1024-byte units). Device mappings are currently excluded;
1044 this is subject to change. (alias vsize).
1045
1047 sleeping, a "-" if the process is running, or a "*" if the
1048 process is multi-threaded and ps is not displaying
1049 threads.
1050
1052 The following environment variables could affect ps:
1053 COLUMNS
1055 Override default display width.
1056 LINES
1058 Override default display height.
1059 PS_PERSONALITY
1061 Set to one of posix, old, linux, bsd, sun, digital...
1062 (see section PERSONALITY below).
1063 CMD_ENV
1065 Set to one of posix, old, linux, bsd, sun, digital...
1066 (see section PERSONALITY below).
1067 I_WANT_A_BROKEN_PS
1069 Force obsolete command line interpretation.
1070 LC_TIME
1072 Date format.
1073 PS_COLORS
1075 Not currently supported.
1076 PS_FORMAT
1078 Default output format override. You may set this to a format string
1079 of the type used for the -o option. The DefSysV and DefBSD values
1080 are particularly useful.
1081 PS_SYSMAP
1083 Default namelist (System.map) location.
1084 PS_SYSTEM_MAP
1086 Default namelist (System.map) location.
1087 POSIXLY_CORRECT
1089 Don't find excuses to ignore bad "features".
1090 POSIX2
1092 When set to "on", acts as POSIXLY_CORRECT.
1093 UNIX95
1095 Don't find excuses to ignore bad "features".
1096 _XPG
1098 Cancel CMD_ENV=irix non-standard behavior.
1099 In general, it is a bad idea to set these variables. The one exception
1101 is CMD_ENV or PS_PERSONALITY, which could be set to Linux for normal
1102 systems. Without that setting, ps follows the useless and bad parts of
1103 the Unix98 standard.
1104
1106 390 like the S/390 OpenEdition ps
1107 aix like AIX ps
1108 bsd like FreeBSD ps (totally non-standard)
1109 compaq like Digital Unix ps
1110 debian like the old Debian ps
1111 digital like Tru64 (was Digital Unix, was OSF/1) ps
1112 gnu like the old Debian ps
1113 hp like HP-UX ps
1114 hpux like HP-UX ps
1115 irix like Irix ps
1116 linux ***** RECOMMENDED *****
1117 old like the original Linux ps (totally non-standard)
1118 os390 like OS/390 Open Edition ps
1119 posix standard
1120 s390 like OS/390 Open Edition ps
1121 sco like SCO ps
1122 sgi like Irix ps
1123 solaris2 like Solaris 2+ (SunOS 5) ps
1124 sunos4 like SunOS 4 (Solaris 1) ps (totally non-standard)
1125 svr4 standard
1126 sysv standard
1127 tru64 like Tru64 (was Digital Unix, was OSF/1) ps
1128 unix standard
1129 unix95 standard
1130 unix98 standard
1131
1133 top(1), pgrep(1), pstree(1), proc(5).
1134
1136 This ps conforms to:
1137 1 Version 2 of the Single Unix Specification
1139 2 The Open Group Technical Standard Base Specifications, Issue 6
1140 3 IEEE Std 1003.1, 2004 Edition
1141 4 X/Open System Interfaces Extension [UP XSI]
1142 5 ISO/IEC 9945:2003
1143
1145 ps was originally written by Branko Lankester <lankeste@fwi.uva.nl>.
1146 Michael K. Johnson <johnsonm@redhat.com> re-wrote it significantly to
1147 use the proc filesystem, changing a few things in the process. Michael
1148 Shields <mjshield@nyx.cs.du.edu> added the pid-list feature. Charles
1149 Blake <cblake@bbn.com> added multi-level sorting, the dirent-style
1150 library, the device name-to-number mmaped database, the approximate
1151 binary search directly on System.map, and many code and documentation
1152 cleanups. David Mossberger-Tang wrote the generic BFD support for
1153 psupdate. Albert Cahalan <albert@users.sf.net> rewrote ps for full
1154 Unix98 and BSD support, along with some ugly hacks for obsolete and
1155 foreign syntax.
1156 Please send bug reports to <procps-feedback@lists.sf.net>.
1158 No subscription is required or suggested.
1159Linux July 28, 2004 PS(1)