ps

Purpose

Display status of processes (programs) running in the system.

Syntax

ps [options]

Options

Note that unlike other commands, ps options do not have a - prefix.

a displays processes of other users.

f displays a family tree of processes.

j displays output using jobs format.

l displays in long format, with many details for each process.

m displays memory usage information for each process.

u displays the user name and start time.

x displays processes that are not associated with any terminal.

Description

The ps command displays the status of processes running in the system. Typing ps alone produces a list of processes you are running. To see a list of all processes in the system, type ps ax (or ps aux, if you want more details about each process).