runlevel(8)

1RUNLEVEL(8)                        runlevel                        RUNLEVEL(8)
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NAME

6       runlevel - Print previous and current SysV runlevel
7

SYNOPSIS

9       runlevel [options...]
10

OVERVIEW

12       "Runlevels" are an obsolete way to start and stop groups of services
13       used in SysV init. systemd provides a compatibility layer that maps
14       runlevels to targets, and associated binaries like runlevel.
15       Nevertheless, only one runlevel can be "active" at a given time, while
16       systemd can activate multiple targets concurrently, so the mapping to
17       runlevels is confusing and only approximate. Runlevels should not be
18       used in new code, and are mostly useful as a shorthand way to refer the
19       matching systemd targets in kernel boot parameters.
20
21       Table 1. Mapping between runlevels and systemd targets
22       ┌─────────┬───────────────────┐
23       │Runlevel │ Target            │
24       ├─────────┼───────────────────┤
25       │0        │ poweroff.target   │
26       ├─────────┼───────────────────┤
27       │1        │ rescue.target     │
28       ├─────────┼───────────────────┤
29       │2, 3, 4  │ multi-user.target │
30       ├─────────┼───────────────────┤
31       │5        │ graphical.target  │
32       ├─────────┼───────────────────┤
33       │6        │ reboot.target     │
34       └─────────┴───────────────────┘
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DESCRIPTION

37       runlevel prints the previous and current SysV runlevel if they are
38       known.
39
40       The two runlevel characters are separated by a single space character.
41       If a runlevel cannot be determined, N is printed instead. If neither
42       can be determined, the word "unknown" is printed.
43
44       Unless overridden in the environment, this will check the utmp database
45       for recent runlevel changes.
46

OPTIONS

48       The following option is understood:
49
50       --help
51           Print a short help text and exit.
52

EXIT STATUS

54       If one or both runlevels could be determined, 0 is returned, a non-zero
55       failure code otherwise.
56

ENVIRONMENT

58       $RUNLEVEL
59           If $RUNLEVEL is set, runlevel will print this value as current
60           runlevel and ignore utmp.
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62       $PREVLEVEL
63           If $PREVLEVEL is set, runlevel will print this value as previous
64           runlevel and ignore utmp.
65

FILES

67       /run/utmp
68           The utmp database runlevel reads the previous and current runlevel
69           from.
70