# ps(1)

## NAME

         ps - process status

## SYNOPSIS

         ps [-alxU] [kernel mm fs]

## OPTIONS

         -a   Print all processes with controlling terminals

         -l   Give long listing

         -x   Include processes without a terminal

## EXAMPLES

         ps -axl             # Print all processes and tasks in long format

## DESCRIPTION

         Ps prints the status of active processes.  Normally only the caller's own
         processes  are  listed in short format (the PID, TTY, TIME and CMD fields
         as explained below).  The long listing contains:

           F   Kernel flags:
                     001: free slot
                     002: no memory map
                     004: sending;
                     010: receiving
                     020: inform on pending signals
                     040: pending signals
                     100: being traced.

           S
               State:
                     R: runnable
                     W: waiting (on a message)
                     S: sleeping (i.e.,suspended on MM or FS)
                     Z: zombie
                     T: stopped

           UID, PID, PPID, PGRP
               The user, process, parent process and process group ID's.

           SZ
               Size of the process in kilobytes.

           RECV
               Process/task on which a receiving process is waiting or sleeping.

           TTY
               Controlling tty for the process.

           TIME
               Process' cumulative (user + system) execution time.

           CMD Command line arguments of the process.

         The files /dev/{mem,kmem} are used to read the system tables and  command
         line  arguments  from.   Terminal  names in /dev are used to generate the
         mnemonic names in the TTY column, so ps is independent of terminal naming
         conventions.