SYNOPSIS
ps [−aA] [−defl] [−g grouplist] [−G grouplist]
[−n namelist] [−o format]... [−p proclist] [−t termlist]
[−u userlist] [−U userlist]
DESCRIPTION
The ps utility shall write information about processes, subject to
having appropriate privileges to obtain information about those pro‐
cesses.
By default, ps shall select all processes with the same effective user
ID as the current user and the same controlling terminal as the in‐
voker.
OPTIONS
The ps utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of
POSIX.1‐2008, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.
The following options shall be supported:
−a Write information for all processes associated with termi‐
nals. Implementations may omit session leaders from this
list.
−A Write information for all processes.
−d Write information for all processes, except session leaders.
−e Write information for all processes. (Equivalent to −A.)
−f Generate a full listing. (See the STDOUT section for the
contents of a full listing.)
−g grouplist
Write information for processes whose session leaders are
given in grouplist. The application shall ensure that the
grouplist is a single argument in the form of a <blank> or
<comma>-separated list.
−G grouplist
Write information for processes whose real group ID numbers
are given in grouplist. The application shall ensure that
the grouplist is a single argument in the form of a <blank>
or <comma>-separated list.
−l Generate a long listing. (See STDOUT for the contents of a
long listing.)
−n namelist
Specify the name of an alternative system namelist file in
place of the default. The name of the default file and the
format of a namelist file are unspecified.
−o format Write information according to the format specification given
in format. This is fully described in the STDOUT section.
Multiple −o options can be specified; the format specifica‐
tion shall be interpreted as the <space>-separated concate‐
nation of all the format option-arguments.
−p proclist
Write information for processes whose process ID numbers are
given in proclist. The application shall ensure that the
proclist is a single argument in the form of a <blank> or
<comma>-separated list.
−t termlist
Write information for processes associated with terminals
given in termlist. The application shall ensure that the
termlist is a single argument in the form of a <blank> or
<comma>-separated list. Terminal identifiers shall be given
in an implementation-defined format. On XSI-conformant sys‐
tems, they shall be given in one of two forms: the device‘s
filename (for example, tty04) or, if the device‘s filename
starts with tty, just the identifier following the characters
tty (for example, "04").
−u userlist
Write information for processes whose user ID numbers or lo‐
gin names are given in userlist. The application shall en‐
sure that the userlist is a single argument in the form of a
<blank> or <comma>-separated list. In the listing, the nu‐
merical user ID shall be written unless the −f option is
used, in which case the login name shall be written.
−U userlist
Write information for processes whose real user ID numbers or
login names are given in userlist. The application shall
ensure that the userlist is a single argument in the form of
a <blank> or <comma>-separated list.