What the ps Command Reports

When you type ps -e and press Return, you get a report that looks like this:

oak%/usr/bin/
ps -e
PID             TTY          TIME           COMD
Ø               ?            Ø:Ø2           sched
1               ?            Ø:Ø1           init
2               ?            Ø:ØØ           pageout
192             ?            Ø:ØØ           sac
79              ?            Ø:1Ø           inetd
75              ?            Ø:Ø1           in.route
136             ?            Ø:Ø4           automoun
143             ?            Ø:Ø1           cron
123             ?            Ø:Ø1           statd
1Ø4             ?            Ø:Ø1           rpcbind
1Ø6             ?            Ø:Ø1           rpc.rwal
1Ø8             ?            Ø:Ø1           rpc.ruse
11Ø             ?            Ø:Ø1           rpc.spra
113             ?            Ø:Ø1           ypbind
115             ?            Ø:ØØ           keyserv
117             ?            Ø:Ø1           kerbd
127             ?            Ø:Ø2           lockd
251             pts/Ø        Ø:ØØ           ps
165             ?            Ø:ØØ           sendmail
193             ?            Ø:Ø1           ttymon
174             ?            Ø:Ø3           syslogd
156             ?            Ø:Ø1           lpsched
2Ø9             ?            Ø:Ø2           in.rlogi
211             pts/Ø        Ø:Ø3           csh
164             ?            Ø:ØØ           lpNet
oak%

The columns are:

•  PID: Process identification number.

•  TTY: The terminal from which the process (or its parent) started. If the process has no controlling terminal, this column contains a question mark (?). Processes with question marks usually are system processes.

•  TIME: The cumulative amount of CPU time used by the process.

•  COMD: The name of the command that generated the process. Note that for the ps -e command only the first eight characters of the file name are displayed.

When you type ps -el and press Return, you get a listing that looks like this:

oak% /usr/bin/ps -el
 F S   UID   PID  PPID  C PRI NI     ADDR   SZ    WCHAN TTY   TIME COMD
19 T     Ø     Ø     Ø 8Ø   Ø SY fØ1Øf1c8    Ø          ?     Ø:Ø2 sched
 8 S     Ø     1     Ø251   1 2Ø ff1ad8ØØ   48 ff1ad9c4 ?     Ø:Ø1 init
19 S     Ø     2     Ø  Ø   Ø SY ff1adØØØ    Ø ff1adØ7d ?     Ø:ØØ pageout
 8 S     Ø   192     1 49   1 2Ø ff1f7ØØØ  238 ff2de348 ?     Ø:ØØ sac
 8 S     Ø    79     1 8Ø   1 2Ø ff2328ØØ  291 fØ1Øf1a4 ?     Ø:1Ø inetd
 8 S     Ø    75     1 8Ø   1 2Ø ff249ØØØ  258 fØ1Øf1a4 ?     Ø:Ø1 in.route
 8 S     Ø   136     1 8Ø   1 2Ø ff2c3ØØØ  327 fØ1Øf1a4 ?     Ø:Ø4 automoun
 8 S     Ø   143     1149   1 2Ø ff293ØØØ  287 ff2de448 ?     Ø:Ø1 cron
 8 S     Ø   123     1 8Ø   1 2Ø ff28eØØØ  27Ø fØ1Øf1a4 ?     Ø:Ø1 statd
 8 S     Ø   1Ø4     1 8Ø   1 2Ø ff25aØØØ  3Ø1 fØ1Øf1a4 ?     Ø:Ø1 rpcbind
 8 S     Ø   1Ø6     1 77   1 2Ø ff2588ØØ  272 fØ1Øf1a4 ?     Ø:Ø1 rpc.rwal
 8 S     Ø   1Ø8     1 8Ø   1 2Ø ff26Ø8ØØ  272 fØ1Øf1a4 ?     Ø:Ø1 rpc.ruse
 8 S     Ø   11Ø     1 78   1 2Ø ff2668ØØ  272 fØ1Øf1a4 ?     Ø:Ø1 rpc.spra
(More information, not shown here)