Listing The Running Processes - Wider Format

• In order to see more details about the processes, we should run the ps command with the u flag:

       [choo@simey ~]$ ps u
       USER       PID %CPU %MEM   VSZ  RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND
       choo      1235  0.0  0.5  2856 1444 pts/3    S    14:42   0:00 -csh
       choo      2061  0.0  0.3  2624  776 pts/3    R    18:43   0:00 ps u
       

• The output is divided into the following columns:
  • USER - the User this process runs on behalf of.
  • PID - the process ID.
  • %CPU - percent of CPU time this process used.
  • %MEM - percent of memory (physical RAM) this process uses.
  • VSZ - amount of virtual memory this process uses.
  • RSS - amount of physical memory this process uses.
  • TTY - the "terminal" under which the process is running ('?' if none).
  • STAT - the status of the process:
    • S - Sleeping.
    • R - Running (at most one per CPU).
    • D - uninterruptible sleep (BAD if a process is in this state for too long). The process cannot be killed or stopped in this state.
    • T - traced or stopped process.
    • Z - Zombie (in the state of exiting).
  • TIME - the CPU-time this process consumed so far (hours, minutes, seconds).
  • CMD - the command this process is executing.

Originally written by guy keren