PS(I) 3/20/74 PS(I)
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 teletypes
(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
special file /usr/sys/core is used in place of /dev/mem.
This is used for postmortem system debugging.
The long listing is columnar and contains
A number encoding the state (last digit) and flags
(first 1 or 2 digits) of the process.
The priority of the process; high numbers mean low
priority.
A number related in some unknown way to the scheduling
heuristic.
The last character of the control typewriter of the
process.
The process unique number (as in certain cults it is
possible to kill a process if you know its true name).
The size in blocks of the core image of the process.
The last column if non-blank tells the core address in
the system of the event which the process is waiting
for; if blank, the process is running.
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
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/mem core memory
/dev/rf0 swap device
/dev/rk0 optional mem file
SEE ALSO
kill (I)
BUGS
The command has assumptions built into it about the number
of typewriters that exist and what hardware is used to
interface them. It also has built into it the name of the
device used for swapping.