NAME
ps - process status
SYNOPSIS
ps [ aklx ] [ namelist ]
DESCRIPTION
Ps prints certain indicia about active processes. The a
flag asks for information about all processes with typewrit-
ers (ordinarily only one's own processes are displayed); x
asks even about processes with no typewriter; l asks for a
long listing. Ordinarily only the typewriter number (if not
one's own), the process number, and an approximation to the
command line are given. If the k flag is specified, the
file /usr/sys/core is used in place of /dev/mem. This is
used for postmortem system debugging. If a second argument
is given, it is taken to be the file containing the system's
namelist.
The long listing is columnar and contains
The name of the process's control typewriter.
Flags associated with the process. 01: in core; 02:
system process; 04: locked in code (e.g. for physical
I/O); 10: being swapped; 20: being traced by another
process.
The state of the process. 0: nonexistent; S: sleeping;
W: waiting; R: running; Z: terminated; T: stopped.
The user ID of the process owner.
The process ID of the process; as in certain cults it
is possible to kill a process if you know its true
name.
The priority of the process; high numbers mean low pri-
ority.
The size in blocks of the core image of the process.
The event for which the process is waiting or sleeping;
if blank, the process is running.
The command and its arguments.
Ps makes an educated guess as to the file name and arguments
given when the process was created by examining core memory
or the swap area. The method is inherently somewhat unreli-
able and in any event a process is entitled to destroy this
information, so the names cannot be counted on too much.
1
FILES
/unix system namelist
/dev/mem core memory
/usr/sys/core alternate core file
/dev searched to find swap device and typewriter names
SEE ALSO
kill (I)
BUGS
2