ps (Unix)
ps (for process status ) is a Unix command that displays a list of all processes currently running or in zombie status on the screen .
The command has been available since at least Unix version V3. Frequently used call parameters are “ax” or “-ef” (depending on the Unix derivative). These cause a listing of all processes including the respective command line.
The output of the command has the following meaning:
- PID
- Unique process ID
- SIZE
- Size on the virtual memory (program + heap + stack )
- RSS
- Resident Set Size , is the size of the process in memory. In contrast to SIZE, the shared libraries are not included here
- TTY
- Terminal from which the process was started
- STAT
- Information on the current status of the process
Under Microsoft Windows there is a similar tool called tasklist.exe.
Application example
[slave@pc-x1y3z7 ~]$ ps -C nfsd
Shows all instances of the NFS daemon on a system.
See also
Web links
-
ps: report process status - Open Group Base Specification -
ps(1): display process status - OpenBSD General Commands Manual -
ps(1): report a snapshot of the current processes - Debian GNU / Linux Executables or Shell Commands man page