Each
task you perform starts a process. Tasks such as using vi
to edit a letter or sending a job to the printer are good examples
of processes. Each process is assigned a unique process identification
number (PID).
You
can list the processes that are currently running on your system
by using the ps
command. In addition to showing the PID for each process you own
( processes that are created as a result of a command you entered),
the ps command
also shows you the terminal from which the command was started
(TTY), the CPU time it has used so far (TIME), and the command
it is performing (CMD).
Command
Format
$ ps [-option(s)]
Without any
options, ps displays
information about processes associated with the controlling terminal.
$ ps
| PID
|
TTY |
TIME |
CMD |
| 12892 |
console |
0:01 |
ksh |
| 12932 |
pts/0 |
0:00 |
ps |
| $ |
|
|
|
The following
table describes the column headings:
|
Value
|
Description
|
|
PID
|
The
process identification number of the process
|
|
TTY
|
The
controlling terminal for the process
|
|
TIME
|
The
amount of CPU time used by the process
|
|
CMD
|
The
command name
|
