Process List (ps)

Introduction

In most Unix-like operating systems, the ps program displays the currently-running processes. A related Unix utility named top provides a real-time view of the running processes.

There are two ps commands: one in /usr/ucb/ (which is like the BSD/SunOS ps command) and one in /usr/bin (which is like the System V ps command), and they each take different sets of command-line switches.

Usage

Description Invocation Man Page
System V-style Process List % /usr/bin/ps -u <username> % man ps
BSD/SunOS-style Process List % /usr/ucb/ps -ugx % man -s1b ps
System Process List (Deprecated?) % sps

Notes

  1. Typing ps does not show all your processes. It only shows processes attached to your current tty (from which you ran ps).
  2. In Solaris 2.5 and above, our default ps (/usr/ucb/ps) once again shows all your processes, if you use the "ugx" flags.

References

  1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ps_%28Unix%29
  2. System V-style ps: % man ps
  3. FreeBSD/SunOS-style ps: % man -s1b ps