ps

Overview ¶

Package ps implements the ps builtin command.

ps — report process status

Usage: ps [-e|-A] [-f] [-p PIDLIST] [-o FORMAT] [--sort SPEC] [--help]

Display information about running processes. By default shows processes in the current session (ancestor chain from the current process). The CMD column reports only the process comm/executable name; ps does not read or expose process argv.

Accepted flags:

-e, -A
    Select all processes.

-f
    Full-format listing: UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD

-p PIDLIST
    Select processes by comma- or space-separated PID list.

-o FORMAT, --format FORMAT
    Select output columns from a fixed safe field set. FORMAT is a comma-
    or space-separated list and the option may be repeated.

--sort SPEC
    Sort by comma- or space-separated fields. Prefix a field with - for
    descending order or + for ascending order.

--help
    Print usage to stdout and exit 0.

Output columns (default):

PID TTY TIME CMD

Output columns (-f):

UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD

Exit codes:

0  Success (even if 0 processes match).
1  Invalid PID value or OS error fetching process list.