ps(1) CLIX ps(1)
NAME
ps - Displays information on active processes
SYNOPSIS
ps [flag ... ]
FLAGS
-a Displays information about all processes most frequently
requested, except session leaders and processes not
associated with a terminal.
-d Displays information about all processes except session
leaders.
-e Displays information about all processes now running.
-f Generates a full listing of process information. The
command ps tries to determine the command name and arguments
given when the process was created by examining the user
block. Failing this, ps displays the command name, as it
would have appeared without the -f flag, in square brackets.
-g pgidlist Displays only information about processes whose process
group IDs are given in pgidlist.
-j Displays session ID and process group ID for each process
listed.
-l Generates a long listing of process information (see
following).
-n name Displays information for an alternate system name instead of
the default system name /unix.
-p proclist Displays only information about processes whose process IDs
are given in proclist.
-s sidlist Displays only information about session leaders whose
session IDs are given in sidlist.
-t termlist Displays only information about processes associated with
the terminal given in termlist. Terminal identifiers may be
specified in one of two forms: the device's filename (for
example, tty04) or, if the device's filename starts with
tty, just the digit identifier (for example, 04).
-u uidlist Displays only information about processes whose user IDs or
login names are given in uidlist. The listing displays the
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numerical user ID for each process by default; using the -f
flag displays the login name instead.
DESCRIPTION
The ps command displays certain information about active processes. When
given without any flags, the command displays information about processes
associated with the controlling terminal. The output consists of a short
listing containing only the process ID, terminal identifier, cumulative
execution time, and the command name. Otherwise, the information
displayed is controlled by the flags given.
The following list describes the column headings and the meanings of the
columns in a ps display. The letters ``f'' (full) and ``l'' (long)
indicate the option that causes the corresponding heading to appear;
``all'' means that the heading always appears. Note that these two
options determine only what information is displayed for a process; they
do not determine which processes are displayed.
F (l) Flags (hexadecimal and additive) associated with the process:
00 Process has terminated; process table entry now available.
01 A system process; always in primary memory.
02 Parent is tracing process.
04 Tracing parent's signal has stopped process; parent is waiting
(ptrace).
08 Process cannot be awakened by signal.
10 Process is currently in primary memory, locked until an event
completes.
S (l) The state of the process:
O Process is running on a processor.
S Sleeping; process is waiting for an event to complete.
R Runnable; process is on run queue.
I Idle; process is being created.
Z Zombie state; process terminated and parent not waiting.
T Traced; process stopped by a signal because parent is tracing
it.
X SXBRK state; process is waiting for more primary memory.
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ps(1) CLIX ps(1)
UID (f,l)
The user ID number of the process owner. The login name is
displayed under the -f flag.
PID (all)
The process ID number of the process (required to kill a process).
PPID (f,l)
The process ID number of the parent process.
C (f,l)
Processor utilization for scheduling.
PRI (l)
The priority of the process; higher numbers mean lower priority.
NI (l)
Nice value, used in priority computation.
ADDR (l)
The memory address of the process.
SZ (l)
The size (in pages or clicks) of the swappable process's image in
main memory.
WCHAN (l)
The address of an event for which the process is sleeping, or in
SXBRK state; if blank, the process is running.
STIME (f)
The starting time of the process, given in hours, minutes, and
seconds. A process begun more than twenty-four hours before the ps
inquiry is given in months and days.
TTY (all)
The controlling terminal for the process. The message ? is
displayed when there is no controlling terminal.
TIME (all)
The cumulative execution time for the process.
COMMAND (all)
The command name. The full command name and its arguments are
displayed under the -f flag.
A process that has exited and has a parent, but has not yet been waited
for by the parent, is marked <defunct>.
EXAMPLES
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1. To display a full listing of all processes currently on the system,
key in the following:
ps -ef
2. To display a long listing of all processes owned by user1, key in the
following:
ps -lu user1
3. To display information about process ID 10453, key in the following:
ps -p 10453
4. To display information about processes associated with terminal ttx01,
key in the following:
ps -t ttx01
FILES
/dev
/dev/sxt/*
/dev/tty*
/dev/xt/*
Terminal (tty) name searcher files.
/dev/kmem
Kernel virtual memory.
/dev/swap
Default swap device.
/dev/mem
System memory.
/etc/passwd
User ID database.
/etc/ps_data
Internal data structure.
/unix System name list.
SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
If your system is running CLIX-TS, this command will operate differently.
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ps(1) CLIX ps(1)
Refer to the CLIX-TS Secure Facilities User's Guide for more information.
CAUTIONS
Things can change while ps is running; the snapshot it gives is only true
for a split-second, and it may not be accurate by the time you see it.
Some data displayed for defunct processes is irrelevant.
If no termlist, proclist, uidlist, pgidlist, or sidlist is specified, ps
checks (in order) stdin, stdout, and stderr to find the controlling
terminal, and attempts to report on processes associated with it. If
stdin, stdout, and stderr are all redirected, ps will not find a
controlling terminal, so there will be no report.
On a heavily loaded system, ps may report an lseek error and exit. The ps
command may seek to a user area address that is not valid; having obtained
the address of a process' user area, ps may not be able to seek to the
valid address before the process exits, canceling the valid address.
The ps -ef command line may not report the actual start of a tty login
session, but rather an earlier time, when a getty was last spawned on the
tty line.
DIAGNOSTICS
ps: unknown user name
A user specified with the -u flag does not exist.
EXIT VALUES
The ps command exits with a value of 1 if an error occurs.
RELATED INFORMATION
Commands: kill(1), nice(1), getty(8)
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