Long listings for the ps command
Ever jump onto a Unix system to help resolve a critical problem and find that the information you most want to see in your ps output has run off the right edge of your terminal window? Who hasn't? Fortunately, the various flavors of Unix have command options to allow you to view the text that is normally truncated.
On Linux systems, for example, there is an "l" (long) option that will turn output such as this:
# ps -ef | egrep "apache|CMD"
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
root 13379 1 0 Jul31 ? 00:00:00 /var/local/ap
ache/bin/httpd -k s
daemon 21193 13379 0 Aug01 ? 00:00:00 /var/local/ap
ache/bin/httpd -k s
daemon 7674 13379 0 Aug04 ? 00:00:00 /var/local/ap
ache/bin/httpd -k s
daemon 7767 13379 0 Aug04 ? 00:00:00 /var/local/ap
ache/bin/httpd -k s
daemon 7768 13379 0 Aug04 ? 00:00:00 /var/local/ap
ache/bin/httpd -k s
daemon 7772 13379 0 Aug04 ? 00:00:00 /var/local/ap
ache/bin/httpd -k s
daemon 7773 13379 0 Aug04 ? 00:00:00 /var/local/ap
ache/bin/httpd -k s
daemon 12341 13379 0 Aug06 ? 00:00:00 /var/local/ap
ache/bin/httpd -k s
daemon 13810 13379 0 Aug06 ? 00:00:00 /var/local/ap
ache/bin/httpd -k s
daemon 13811 13379 0 Aug06 ? 00:00:00 /var/local/ap
ache/bin/httpd -k s
daemon 13812 13379 0 Aug06 ? 00:00:00 /var/local/ap
ache/bin/httpd -k s
into output that looks like this:
# ps -elf | egrep "apache|CMD"
F S UID PID PPID C PRI NI ADDR SZ WCHAN STIME
TTY TIME CMD
140 S root 13379 1 0 75 0 - 1234 schedu Jul31
? 00:00:00 /var/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start
140 S daemon 21193 13379 0 75 0 - 1289 schedu Aug01
? 00:00:00 /var/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start
140 S daemon 7674 13379 0 75 0 - 1289 schedu Aug04
? 00:00:00 /var/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start
140 S daemon 7767 13379 0 75 0 - 1289 schedu Aug04
? 00:00:00 /var/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start
140 S daemon 7768 13379 0 75 0 - 1289 schedu Aug04
? 00:00:00 /var/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start
140 S daemon 7772 13379 0 75 0 - 1289 schedu Aug04
? 00:00:00 /var/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start
140 S daemon 7773 13379 0 75 0 - 1289 schedu Aug04
? 00:00:00 /var/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start
140 S daemon 12341 13379 0 75 0 - 1289 schedu Aug06
? 00:00:00 /var/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start
140 S daemon 13810 13379 0 75 0 - 1286 schedu Aug06
? 00:00:00 /var/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start
140 S daemon 13811 13379 0 75 0 - 1286 schedu Aug06
? 00:00:00 /var/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start
140 S daemon 13812 13379 0 75 0 - 1286 schedu Aug06
?
Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world
jfruh
Apple syncing patent can't come soon enough
pasmith
New Twitter features borrow from 3rd party clients
Esther Schindler
Open Source Changes the Software Acquisition Process
mikelgan
How to set up continuous podcast play on the new iTunes
David Strom
Five important Windows 7 mobility features
sjvn
Guard your Wi-Fi for your own sake
Sandra Henry-Stocker
Grepping on Whole Words
Sidekick: The Good News & the Bad News
Either way you look at it Microsoft Data Center management did not follow standards or best practices in this failure. In which case it makes me wonder more about the outsourcing of corporate data much less personal data.
- mburton325
Join the conversation here
Quick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.
Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.













I've always wondered how to
I've always wondered how to view a long cmd line argument for a process using ps, and the article states that in Solaris, the output is wrapped using the "l" cmd. I use Solaris 9, and the output is not wrapped. To overcome this shortcoming, I use the BSD version:/usr/ucb/ps -auxww
Works great.