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PSTREE(1)                        User Commands                       PSTREE(1)

NAME
       pstree - display a tree of processes
SYNOPSIS
       pstree [-a, --arguments] [-c, --compact] [-h, --high-
       light-all, -Hpid, --highlight-pid pid] [-g] --show-pgids] [-l, --long]
       [-n, --numeric-sort] [-N, --ns-sortns [-p, --show-pids]
       [-s, --show-parents] [-S, --ns-changes] [-u, --uid-changes]
       [-Z, --security-context] [-A, --ascii, -G, --vt100, -U, --unicode]
       [pid, user]
       pstree -V, --version
DESCRIPTION
       pstree shows running processes as a tree.  The tree is rooted at either
       pid  or  init  if  pid  is  omitted.   If a user name is specified, all
       process trees rooted at processes owned by that user are shown.
       pstree visually merges identical branches by  putting  them  in  square
       brackets and prefixing them with the repetition count, e.g.
           init-+-getty
                |-getty
                |-getty
                `-getty
       becomes
           init---4*[getty]

       Child  threads  of a process are found under the parent process and are
       shown with the process name in curly braces, e.g.
           icecast2---13*[{icecast2}]

       If pstree is called as pstree.x11 then it will prompt the user  at  the
       end of the line to press return and will not return until that has hap-
       pened.  This is useful for when pstree is run in a xterminal.
       Certain kernel or mount parameters, such  as  the  hidepid  option  for
       procfs,  will  hide information for some processes. In these situations
       pstree will attempt to build the tree without this information, showing
       process names as question marks.

OPTIONS
       -a     Show  command  line arguments.  If the command line of a process
              is swapped out,  that  process  is  shown  in  parentheses.   -a
              implicitly disables compaction for processes but not threads.
       -A     Use ASCII characters to draw the tree.
       -c     Disable  compaction of identical subtrees.  By default, subtrees
              are compacted whenever possible.
       -G     Use VT100 line drawing characters.
       -h     Highlight the current process and its ancestors.  This is a  no-
              op  if  the  terminal doesn't support highlighting or if neither
              the current process nor any of its ancestors are in the  subtree
              being shown.
       -H     Like  -h,  but  highlight the specified process instead.  Unlike
              with -h, pstree fails when  using  -H  if  highlighting  is  not
              available.
       -g     Show  PGIDs.   Process Group IDs are shown as decimal numbers in
              parentheses after each process  name.   -p  implicitly  disables
              compaction.   If both PIDs and PGIDs are displayed then PIDs are
              shown first.
       -l     Display long lines.  By default, lines are truncated to the dis-
              play  width or 132 if output is sent to a non-tty or if the dis-
              play width is unknown.
       -n     Sort processes with the same ancestor by PID instead of by name.
              (Numeric sort.)
       -N     Show  individual trees for each namespace of the type specified.
              The available types are: ipc, mnt, net, pid, user, uts.  Regular
              users  don't  have access to other users' processes information,
              so the output will be limited.
       -p     Show PIDs.  PIDs are shown as  decimal  numbers  in  parentheses
              after each process name.  -p implicitly disables compaction.
       -s     Show parent processes of the specified process.
       -S     Show  namespaces  transitions.   Like  -N, the output is limited
              when running as a regular user.
       -u     Show uid transitions.  Whenever the uid  of  a  process  differs
              from  the uid of its parent, the new uid is shown in parentheses
              after the process name.
       -U     Use UTF-8 (Unicode) line drawing characters.  Under Linux 1.1-54
              and  above,  UTF-8  mode  is entered on the console with echo -e
              ' 33%8' and left with echo -e ' 33%@'
       -V     Display version information.
       -Z     (SELinux) Show security context for  each  process.   This  flag
              will only work if pstree is compilied with SELinux support.
FILES
       /proc  location of the proc file system
BUGS
       Some character sets may be incompatible with the VT100 characters.
SEE ALSO
       ps(1), top(1).

psmisc                            2012-07-28                         PSTREE(1)