2.9BSD/usr/man/cat1/ps.1
PS(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual PS(1)
NAME
ps - process status
SYNOPSIS
ps [ acgklnrtuwxU# [ core [ swap [ system ] ] ] ]
DESCRIPTION
_P_s prints certain indicia about active processes. To get a
complete printout on the console or lpr, use ``ps axlw'' For
a quick snapshot of system activity, ``ps au'' is recom-
mended. A hyphen may precede options with no effect. The
following options may be specified.
a asks for information about all processes with terminals
(ordinarily only one's own processes are displayed).
c causes only the _c_o_m_m field to be displayed instead of
the arguments. (The comm field is the tail of the path
name of the file the process last exec'ed.) This option
speeds up _p_s somewhat and reduces the amount of output.
It is also more reliable since the process can't scrib-
ble on top of it.
g asks for all processes. Without this option, _p_s only
prints ``interesting'' processes. Processes are deemed
to be uninteresting if they are process group leaders,
or if their arguments begin with a `-'. This normally
eliminates shells and getty processes.
k causes the file /_u_s_r/_s_y_s/_c_o_r_e is used in place of
/_d_e_v/_k_m_e_m and /_d_e_v/_m_e_m. This is used for postmortem
system debugging.
l asks for a long listing. The short listing contains
the user name, process ID, tty, the cumulative execu-
tion time of the process and an approximation to the
command line.
n asks for numeric rather than symbolic wchans. This
flag implies the ``l'' flag.
r asks for ``raw'' output. A non-human readable sequence
of structures is output on the standard output. There
is one structure for each process, the format is
defined by <psout.h>
t_t_t_y_n_a_m_e
restricts output to processes whose controlling tty is
the specified ttyname (which should be specified as
printed by _p_s, including _t? for processes with no tty).
This option must be the last one given.
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PS(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual PS(1)
u A user oriented output is produced. This includes the
name of the owner of the process, process id, nice
value, size, tty, cpu time used, and the command.
w tells _p_s you are on a wide terminal (132 columns). _P_s
normally assumes you are on an 80 column terminal.
This information is used to decide how much of long
commands to print. The w option may be repeated, e.g.
ww, and the entire command, up to 128 characters, will
be printed without regard to terminal width.
x asks even about processes with no terminal.
U causes ps to update a private database where is keeps
system information. Thus ``ps U'' should be included
in the /etc/rc file.
# A process number may be given, (indicated here by #),
in which case the output is restricted to that process.
This option must also be last.
A second argument tells _p_s where to look for _c_o_r_e if the _k
option is given, instead of /usr/sys/core. A third argument
is the name of a swap file to use instead of the default
/dev/swap. If a fourth argument is given, it is taken to be
the file containing the system's namelist. Otherwise,
``/unix'' is used.
The output is sorted by tty, then by process ID.
The long listing is columnar and contains
F Flags associated with the process. These are defined
by #define lines in /usr/include/sys/proc.h.
S The state of the process. 0: nonexistent; S: sleeping;
W: waiting; R: running; I: intermediate; Z: terminated;
T: stopped.
UID The user id of the process owner.
PID The process ID of the process; as in certain cults it
is possible to kill a process if you know its true
name.
PPID The process ID of the parent process.
CPU Processor utilization for scheduling.
PRI The priority of the process; high numbers mean low
priority.
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PS(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual PS(1)
NICE Used in priority computation.
ADDR The memory address of the process if resident, other-
wise the disk address.
SZ The size in blocks (512 bytes) of the memory image of
the process.
WCHAN
The event for which the process is waiting or sleeping;
if blank, the process is running.
TTY The controlling tty for the process.
TIME The cumulative execution time for the process.
COMMAND
The command and its arguments.
A process that has exited and has a parent, but has not yet
been waited for by the parent is marked <defunct>. _P_s makes
an educated guess as to the file name and arguments given
when the process was created by examining memory or the swap
area. The method is inherently somewhat unreliable and in
any event a process is entitled to destroy this information,
so the names cannot be counted on too much.
FILES
/unix system namelist
/dev/kmem kernel memory
/dev/swap swap device
/usr/sys/core core file
/dev searched to find swap device and tty
names
/etc/psdatabase system namelist and device information
SEE ALSO
kill(1), w(1), pstat(8)
BUGS
Things can change while _p_s is running; the picture it gives
is only a close approximation to reality.
Some processes, typically those in the background, are
printed with null or garbaged arguments, even though the
process has not swapped. (Sometimes ps even loses on its
own arguments!) In these cases, the name of the command is
printed in parentheses.
When automatic crash dumps are enabled, /usr/sys/core is not
a sensible default core file name.
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