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 ? 00:00:00 /var/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start You not only get the complete command line, but several extra fields are included. For example, WCHAN, which indicates the event on which the process is waiting, is shown in the 11th column in this output. Solaris systems, on which I spend most of the e-time, also provide the “l” (long) option, though they generally wrap the ps output onto the following line rather than truncate ps output.Mac OS X systems, which still use the “aux” version of the ps command, offer a “w” (wide) option which provides 132 columns in ps output instead of the default 80. The order in which the arguments to ps arguments are presented is arbitrary, though I have always seen “ef” and “aux” as the standards, maybe because the letters in the argument list are in alphabetical order. I prefer “elf” to “efl” since its an easy-to-remember and friendly word and “uwax” to “auwx” for a similar reason, but you can adopt whatever argument order appeals to you. Related content how-to Compressing files using the zip command on Linux The zip command lets you compress files to preserve them or back them up, and you can require a password to extract the contents of a zip file. By Sandra Henry-Stocker May 13, 2024 4 mins Linux opinion NSA, FBI warn of email spoofing threat Email spoofing is acknowledged by experts as a very credible threat. By Sandra Henry-Stocker May 13, 2024 3 mins Linux how-to The logic of && and || on Linux These AND and OR equivalents can be used in scripts to determine next actions. By Sandra Henry-Stocker May 02, 2024 4 mins Linux how-to Using the apropos command on Linux By Sandra Henry-Stocker Apr 24, 2024 3 mins Linux PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe