ps - report a snapshot of the current processes.
displays information about a selection of the active processes. If you
want a repetitive update of the selection and the displayed information, use
instead.
Options of different types may be freely mixed, but conflicts can appear. There
are some synonymous options, which are functionally identical, due to the many
standards and
is compatible
with.
. The POSIX and
UNIX standards require that
option. If the user named
instead and
print a warning. This behavior is intended to aid in transitioning old scripts
and habits. It is fragile, subject to change, and thus should not be relied
upon.
selects all processes with the same effective user ID
(euid=EUID) as the current user and associated with the same terminal as the
invoker. It displays the process ID (pid=PID), the terminal associated with
the process (tname=TTY), the cumulated CPU time in [DD-]hh:mm:ss format
(time=TIME), and the executable name (ucmd=CMD). Output is unsorted by
default.
The use of BSD-style options will add process state (stat=STAT) to the default
display and show the command args (args=COMMAND) instead of the executable
name. You can override this with the
environment variable.
The use of BSD-style options will also change the process selection to include
processes on other terminals (TTYs) that are owned by you; alternately, this
may be described as setting the selection to be the set of all processes
filtered to exclude processes owned by other users or not on a terminal. These
effects are not considered when options are described as being
"identical" below, so
and so on.
Except as described below, process selection options are additive. The default
selection is discarded, and then the selected processes are added to the set
of processes to be displayed. A process will thus be shown if it meets any of
the given selection criteria.
These options accept a single argument in the form of a blank-separated or
comma-separated list. They can be used multiple times. For example:
. The
output may differ by personality.
works by reading the virtual files in /proc. This
does
not need to be setuid kmem or have any privileges to run. Do not give this
any special permissions.
CPU usage is currently expressed as the percentage of time spent running during
the entire lifetime of a process. This is not ideal, and it does not
conform to the standards that
otherwise conforms to. CPU usage is
unlikely to add up to exactly 100%.
The SIZE and RSS fields don't count some parts of a process including the page
tables, kernel stack, struct thread_info, and struct task_struct. This is
usually at least 20 KiB of memory that is always resident. SIZE is the virtual
size of the process (code+data+stack).
Processes marked <defunct> are dead processes (so-called
"zombies") that remain because their parent has not destroyed them
properly. These processes will be destroyed by
if the parent
process exits.
If the length of the username is greater than the length of the display column,
the username will be truncated. See the
formatting
options to customize length.
are not recommended as it is a confusion
of two different standards. According to the POSIX and UNIX standards, the
above command asks to display all processes with a TTY (generally the commands
users are running) plus all processes owned by a user named
. If that
user doesn't exist, then
.
The sum of these values is displayed in the "F" column, which is
provided by the
output specifiers
(header "STAT" or "S") will display to describe the state
of a process:
section. Note that
the values used in sorting are the internal values
uses and not the
"cooked" values used in some of the output format fields (e.g.
sorting on tty will sort into device number, not according to the terminal
name displayed). Pipe
command if you
want to sort the cooked values.
supports AIX format descriptors, which work somewhat like the
formatting codes of
. For example, the
normal default output can be produced with this:
. The
codes are described in the next section.
Here are the different keywords that may be used to control the output format
(e.g. with option
option.
.
.
Some keywords may not be available for sorting.
CODE |
HEADER |
DESCRIPTION |
|
|
|
%cpu |
%CPU |
cpu utilization of the process in "##.#" format. Currently, it
is the CPU time used divided by the time the process has been running
(cputime/realtime ratio), expressed as a percentage. It will not add up to
100% unless you are lucky. (alias pcpu ). |
|
|
|
%mem |
%MEM |
ratio of the process's resident set size to the physical memory on the
machine, expressed as a percentage. (alias pmem ). |
|
|
|
ag_id |
AGID |
The autogroup identifier associated with a process which operates in
conjunction with the CFS scheduler to improve interactive desktop
performance. |
|
|
|
ag_nice |
AGNI |
The autogroup nice value which affects scheduling of all processes in
that group. |
|
|
|
args |
COMMAND |
command with all its arguments as a string. Modifications to the
arguments may be shown. The output in this column may contain spaces. A
process marked <defunct> is partly dead, waiting to be fully
destroyed by its parent. Sometimes the process args will be unavailable;
when this happens, ps will instead print the executable name in brackets.
(alias cmd , command ). See also the comm format keyword, the -f
option, and the c option. When specified last, this column will extend to
the edge of the display. If ps can not determine display width, as when
output is redirected (piped) into a file or another command, the output
width is undefined (it may be 80, unlimited, determined by the TERM
variable, and so on). The COLUMNS environment variable or --cols option
may be used to exactly determine the width in this case. The w or -w
option may be also be used to adjust width. |
|
|
|
blocked |
BLOCKED |
mask of the blocked signals, see signal (7). According to the width of
the field, a 32 or 64-bit mask in hexadecimal format is displayed. (alias
sig_block , sigmask ). |
|
|
|
bsdstart |
START |
time the command started. If the process was started less than 24 hours
ago, the output format is " HH:MM", else it is "
Mmm:SS" (where Mmm is the three letters of the month). See also
lstart , start , start_time ", and"
stime . |
|
|
|
bsdtime |
TIME |
accumulated cpu time, user + system. The display format is usually
"MMM:SS", but can be shifted to the right if the process used
more than 999 minutes of cpu time. |
|
|
|
c |
C |
processor utilization. Currently, this is the integer value of the
percent usage over the lifetime of the process. (see %cpu ). |
|
|
|
caught |
CAUGHT |
mask of the caught signals, see signal (7). According to the width of
the field, a 32 or 64 bits mask in hexadecimal format is displayed. (alias
sig_catch , sigcatch ). |
|
|
|
cgname |
CGNAME |
display name of control groups to which the process belongs. |
|
|
|
cgroup |
CGROUP |
display control groups to which the process belongs. |
|
|
|
cgroupns |
CGROUPNS |
Unique inode number describing the namespace the process belongs to. See
namespaces (7). |
|
|
|
class |
CLS |
scheduling class of the process. (alias policy , cls ). Field's
possible values are: "" 2 - not reported TS SCHED_OTHER
FF SCHED_FIFO RR SCHED_RR B SCHED_BATCH ISO SCHED_ISO IDL SCHED_IDLE
DLN SCHED_DEADLINE ? unknown value |
|
|
|
cls |
CLS |
scheduling class of the process. (alias policy , cls ). Field's
possible values are: "" 2 - not reported TS SCHED_OTHER
FF SCHED_FIFO RR SCHED_RR B SCHED_BATCH ISO SCHED_ISO IDL SCHED_IDLE
DLN SCHED_DEADLINE ? unknown value |
|
|
|
cmd |
CMD |
see args . (alias args , command ). |
|
|
|
comm |
COMMAND |
command name (only the executable name). Modifications to the command
name will not be shown. A process marked <defunct> is partly dead,
waiting to be fully destroyed by its parent. The output in this column may
contain spaces. (alias ucmd , ucomm ). See also the args format
keyword, the -f option, and the c option. When specified last, this column
will extend to the edge of the display. If ps can not determine display
width, as when output is redirected (piped) into a file or another
command, the output width is undefined (it may be 80, unlimited,
determined by the TERM variable, and so on). The COLUMNS environment
variable or --cols option may be used to exactly determine the width in
this case. The w or -w option may be also be used to
adjust width. |
|
|
|
command |
COMMAND |
See args . (alias args , command ). |
|
|
|
cp |
CP |
per-mill (tenths of a percent) CPU usage. (see %cpu ). |
|
|
|
cputime |
TIME |
cumulative CPU time, "[DD-]hh:mm:ss" format. (alias time
). |
|
|
|
cputimes |
TIME |
cumulative CPU time in seconds (alias times ). |
|
|
|
cuc |
%CUC |
The CPU utilization of a process, including dead children, in an
extended "##.###" format. (see also %cpu , c , cp , cuu , pcpu
). |
|
|
|
cuu |
%CUU |
The CPU utilization of a process in an extended "##.###"
format. (see also %cpu , c , cp , cuc , pcpu ). |
|
|
|
drs |
DRS |
data resident set size, the amount of physical memory devoted to other
than executable code. |
|
|
|
egid |
EGID |
effective group ID number of the process as a decimal integer. (alias
gid ). |
|
|
|
egroup |
EGROUP |
effective group ID of the process. This will be the textual group ID, if
it can be obtained and the field width permits, or a decimal
representation otherwise. (alias group ). |
|
|
|
eip |
EIP |
instruction pointer. As of kernel 4.9.xx will be zeroed out unless task
is exiting or being core dumped. |
|
|
|
esp |
ESP |
stack pointer. As of kernel 4.9.xx will be zeroed out unless task is
exiting or being core dumped. |
|
|
|
etime |
ELAPSED |
elapsed time since the process was started, in the form
[[DD-]hh:]mm:ss. |
|
|
|
etimes |
ELAPSED |
elapsed time since the process was started, in seconds. |
|
|
|
euid |
EUID |
effective user ID (alias uid ). |
|
|
|
euser |
EUSER |
effective user name. This will be the textual user ID, if it can be
obtained and the field width permits, or a decimal representation
otherwise. The n option can be used to force the decimal representation.
(alias uname , user ). |
|
|
|
exe |
EXE |
path to the executable. Useful if path cannot be printed via cmd ",
" comm or args format options. |
|
|
|
f |
F |
flags associated with the process, see the PROCESS FLAGS section. (alias
flag , flags ). |
|
|
|
fgid |
FGID |
filesystem access group ID. (alias fsgid ). |
|
|
|
fgroup |
FGROUP |
filesystem access group ID. This will be the textual group ID, if it can
be obtained and the field width permits, or a decimal representation
otherwise. (alias fsgroup ). |
|
|
|
flag |
F |
see f . (alias f , flags ). |
|
|
|
flags |
F |
see f . (alias f , flag ). |
|
|
|
fname |
COMMAND |
first 8 bytes of the base name of the process's executable file. The
output in this column may contain spaces. |
|
|
|
fuid |
FUID |
filesystem access user ID. (alias fsuid ). |
|
|
|
fuser |
FUSER |
filesystem access user ID. This will be the textual user ID, if it can
be obtained and the field width permits, or a decimal representation
otherwise. |
|
|
|
gid |
GID |
see egid . (alias egid ). |
|
|
|
group |
GROUP |
see egroup . (alias egroup ). |
|
|
|
ignored |
IGNORED |
mask of the ignored signals, see signal (7). According to the width of
the field, a 32 or 64 bits mask in hexadecimal format is displayed. (alias
sig_ignore , sigignore ). |
|
|
|
ipcns |
IPCNS |
Unique inode number describing the namespace the process belongs to. See
namespaces (7). |
|
|
|
label |
LABEL |
security label, most commonly used for SELinux context data. This is for
the Mandatory Access Control ("MAC") found on high-security
systems. |
|
|
|
lstart |
STARTED |
time the command started. See also bsdstart , start ,
start_time ", and" stime . |
|
|
|
lsession |
SESSION |
displays the login session identifier of a process, if systemd support
has been included. |
|
|
|
luid |
LUID |
displays Login ID associated with a process. |
|
|
|
lwp |
LWP |
light weight process (thread) ID of the dispatchable entity (alias spid
, tid ). See tid for additional information. |
|
|
|
lxc |
LXC |
The name of the lxc container within which a task is running. If a
process is not running inside a container, a dash ('-') will be
shown. |
|
|
|
machine |
MACHINE |
displays the machine name for processes assigned to VM or container, if
systemd support has been included. |
|
|
|
maj_flt |
MAJFLT |
The number of major page faults that have occurred with this
process. |
|
|
|
min_flt |
MINFLT |
The number of minor page faults that have occurred with this
process. |
|
|
|
mntns |
MNTNS |
Unique inode number describing the namespace the process belongs to. See
namespaces (7). |
|
|
|
netns |
NETNS |
Unique inode number describing the namespace the process belongs to. See
namespaces (7). |
|
|
|
ni |
NI |
nice value. This ranges from 19 (nicest) to -20 (not nice to others),
see nice (1). (alias nice ). |
|
|
|
nice |
NI |
see ni . (alias ni ). |
|
|
|
nlwp |
NLWP |
number of lwps (threads) in the process. (alias thcount ). |
|
|
|
numa |
NUMA |
The node associated with the most recently used processor. A -1
means that NUMA information is unavailable. |
|
|
|
nwchan |
WCHAN |
address of the kernel function where the process is sleeping (use wchan
if you want the kernel function name). |
|
|
|
oom |
OOM |
Out of Memory Score. The value, ranging from 0 to +1000, used to select
task(s) to kill when memory is exhausted. |
|
|
|
oomadj |
OOMADJ |
Out of Memory Adjustment Factor. The value is added to the current out
of memory score which is then used to determine which task to kill when
memory is exhausted. |
|
|
|
ouid |
OWNER |
displays the Unix user identifier of the owner of the session of a
process, if systemd support has been included. |
|
|
|
pcpu |
%CPU |
see %cpu . (alias %cpu ). |
|
|
|
pending |
PENDING |
mask of the pending signals. See signal (7). Signals pending on the
process are distinct from signals pending on individual threads. Use the m
option or the -m option to see both. According to the width of the field,
a 32 or 64 bits mask in hexadecimal format is displayed. (alias sig
). |
|
|
|
pgid |
PGID |
process group ID or, equivalently, the process ID of the process group
leader. (alias pgrp ). |
|
|
|
pgrp |
PGRP |
see pgid . (alias pgid ). |
|
|
|
pid |
PID |
a number representing the process ID (alias tgid ). |
|
|
|
pidns |
PIDNS |
Unique inode number describing the namespace the process belongs to. See
namespaces (7). |
|
|
|
pmem |
%MEM |
see %mem . (alias %mem ). |
|
|
|
policy |
POL |
scheduling class of the process. (alias class , cls ). Possible
values are: "" 2 - not reported TS SCHED_OTHER FF SCHED_FIFO
RR SCHED_RR B SCHED_BATCH ISO SCHED_ISO IDL SCHED_IDLE DLN SCHED_DEADLINE
? unknown value |
|
|
|
ppid |
PPID |
parent process ID. |
|
|
|
pri |
PRI |
priority of the process. Higher number means higher priority. |
|
|
|
psr |
PSR |
processor that process last executed on. |
|
|
|
pss |
PSS |
Proportional share size, the non-swapped physical memory, with shared
memory proportionally accounted to all tasks mapping it. |
|
|
|
rbytes |
RBYTES |
Number of bytes which this process really did cause to be fetched from
the storage layer. |
|
|
|
rchars |
RCHARS |
Number of bytes which this task has caused to be read from storage. |
|
|
|
rgid |
RGID |
real group ID. |
|
|
|
rgroup |
RGROUP |
real group name. This will be the textual group ID, if it can be
obtained and the field width permits, or a decimal representation
otherwise. |
|
|
|
rops |
ROPS |
Number of read I/O operations—that is, system calls such as read
"(2) and " pread (2). |
|
|
|
rss |
RSS |
resident set size, the non-swapped physical memory that a task has used
(in kiloBytes). (alias rssize , rsz ). |
|
|
|
rssize |
RSS |
see rss . (alias rss , rsz ). |
|
|
|
rsz |
RSZ |
see rss . (alias rss , rssize ). |
|
|
|
rtprio |
RTPRIO |
realtime priority. |
|
|
|
ruid |
RUID |
real user ID. |
|
|
|
ruser |
RUSER |
real user ID. This will be the textual user ID, if it can be obtained
and the field width permits, or a decimal representation otherwise. |
|
|
|
s |
S |
minimal state display (one character). See section PROCESS STATE CODES
for the different values. See also stat if you want additional information
displayed. (alias state ). |
|
|
|
sched |
SCH |
scheduling policy of the process. The policies SCHED_OTHER
(SCHED_NORMAL), SCHED_FIFO, SCHED_RR, SCHED_BATCH, SCHED_ISO, SCHED_IDLE
and SCHED_DEADLINE are respectively displayed as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and
6. |
|
|
|
seat |
SEAT |
displays the identifier associated with all hardware devices assigned to
a specific workplace, if systemd support has been included. |
|
|
|
sess |
SESS |
session ID or, equivalently, the process ID of the session leader.
(alias session , sid ). |
|
|
|
sgi_p |
P |
processor that the process is currently executing on. Displays
"*" if the process is not currently running or runnable. |
|
|
|
sgid |
SGID |
saved group ID. (alias svgid ). |
|
|
|
sgroup |
SGROUP |
saved group name. This will be the textual group ID, if it can be
obtained and the field width permits, or a decimal representation
otherwise. |
|
|
|
sid |
SID |
see sess . (alias sess , session ). |
|
|
|
sig |
PENDING |
see pending . (alias pending , sig_pend ). |
|
|
|
sigcatch |
CAUGHT |
see caught . (alias caught , sig_catch ). |
|
|
|
sigignore |
IGNORED |
see ignored . (alias ignored , sig_ignore ). |
|
|
|
sigmask |
BLOCKED |
see blocked . (alias blocked , sig_block ). |
|
|
|
size |
SIZE |
approximate amount of swap space that would be required if the process
were to dirty all writable pages and then be swapped out. This number is
very rough! |
|
|
|
slice |
SLICE |
displays the slice unit which a process belongs to, if systemd support
has been included. |
|
|
|
spid |
SPID |
see lwp . (alias lwp , tid ). |
|
|
|
stackp |
STACKP |
address of the bottom (start) of stack for the process. |
|
|
|
start |
STARTED |
time the command started. If the process was started less than 24 hours
ago, the output format is "HH:MM:SS", else it is
" Mmm dd" (where Mmm is a three-letter
month name). See also lstart , bsdstart , start_time
", and" stime . |
|
|
|
start_time |
START |
starting time or date of the process. Only the year will be displayed if
the process was not started the same year ps was invoked, or
"MmmDD" if it was not started the same day, or "HH:MM"
otherwise. See also bsdstart , start , lstart ",
and" stime . |
|
|
|
stat |
STAT |
multi-character process state. See section PROCESS STATE CODES for the
different values meaning. See also s and state if you just
want the first character displayed. |
|
|
|
state |
S |
see s ". (alias" s ). |
|
|
|
stime |
STIME |
see start_time. (alias start_time). |
|
|
|
suid |
SUID |
saved user ID. (alias svuid ). |
|
|
|
supgid |
SUPGID |
group ids of supplementary groups, if any. See getgroups (2). |
|
|
|
supgrp |
SUPGRP |
group names of supplementary groups, if any. See getgroups (2). |
|
|
|
suser |
SUSER |
saved user name. This will be the textual user ID, if it can be obtained
and the field width permits, or a decimal representation otherwise. (alias
svuser ). |
|
|
|
svgid |
SVGID |
see sgid . (alias sgid ). |
|
|
|
svuid |
SVUID |
see suid . (alias suid ). |
|
|
|
sz |
SZ |
size in physical pages of the core image of the process. This includes
text, data, and stack space. Device mappings are currently excluded; this
is subject to change. See vsz and rss . |
|
|
|
tgid |
TGID |
a number representing the thread group to which a task belongs (alias
pid ). It is the process ID of the thread group leader. |
|
|
|
thcount |
THCNT |
see nlwp . (alias nlwp ). number of kernel threads owned by the
process. |
|
|
|
tid |
TID |
the unique number representing a dispatchable entity (alias lwp ,
spid ). This value may also appear as: a process ID (pid); a
process group ID (pgrp); a session ID for the session leader (sid); a
thread group ID for the thread group leader (tgid); and a tty process
group ID for the process group leader (tpgid). |
|
|
|
time |
TIME |
cumulative CPU time, "[DD-]HH:MM:SS" format. (alias
cputime ). |
|
|
|
timens |
TIMENS |
Unique inode number describing the namespace the process belongs to. See
namespaces (7). |
|
|
|
times |
TIME |
cumulative CPU time in seconds (alias cputimes ). |
|
|
|
tname |
TTY |
controlling tty (terminal). (alias tt , tty ). |
|
|
|
tpgid |
TPGID |
ID of the foreground process group on the tty (terminal) that the
process is connected to, or -1 if the process is not connected to a
tty. |
|
|
|
trs |
TRS |
text resident set size, the amount of physical memory devoted to
executable code. |
|
|
|
tt |
TT |
controlling tty (terminal). (alias tname , tty ). |
|
|
|
tty |
TT |
controlling tty (terminal). (alias tname , tt ). |
|
|
|
ucmd |
CMD |
see comm . (alias comm , ucomm ). |
|
|
|
ucomm |
COMMAND |
see comm . (alias comm , ucmd ). |
|
|
|
uid |
UID |
see euid . (alias euid ). |
|
|
|
uname |
USER |
see euser . (alias euser , user ). |
|
|
|
unit |
UNIT |
displays unit which a process belongs to, if systemd support has been
included. |
|
|
|
user |
USER |
see euser . (alias euser , uname ). |
|
|
|
userns |
USERNS |
Unique inode number describing the namespace the process belongs to. See
namespaces (7). |
|
|
|
uss |
USS |
Unique set size, the non-swapped physical memory, which is not shared
with an another task. |
|
|
|
utsns |
UTSNS |
Unique inode number describing the namespace the process belongs to. See
namespaces (7). |
|
|
|
uunit |
UUNIT |
displays user unit which a process belongs to, if systemd support has
been included. |
|
|
|
vsize |
VSZ |
see vsz . (alias vsz ). |
|
|
|
vsz |
VSZ |
virtual memory size of the process in KiB (1024-byte units). Device
mappings are currently excluded; this is subject to change. (alias vsize
). |
|
|
|
wbytes |
WBYTES |
Number of bytes which this process caused to be sent to the storage
layer. |
|
|
|
wcbytes |
WCBYTES |
Number of cancelled write bytes. |
|
|
|
wchan |
WCHAN |
name of the kernel function in which the process is sleeping. |
|
|
|
wchars |
WCHARS |
Number of bytes which this task has caused, or shall cause to be written
to disk. |
|
|
|
wops |
WOPS |
Number of write I/O operations—that is, system calls such as
write "(2) and " pwrite (2). |
|
|
|
In general, it is a bad idea to set these variables. The one exception is
, which could be set to Linux for
normal systems. Without that setting,
follows the useless and bad
parts of the Unix98 standard.
.
re-wrote it significantly to use the proc filesystem, changing a few things in
the process.
added
multi-level sorting, the dirent-style library, the device name-to-number
mmaped database, the approximate binary search directly on System.map, and
many code and documentation cleanups. David Mossberger-Tang wrote the generic
BFD support for psupdate.
rewrote
ps for full Unix98 and BSD support, along with some ugly hacks for obsolete
and foreign syntax.
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