System
ps CLI
ps command for process management and monitoring.
27 commands
Windows
MacOS
Linux
#process-management
#monitoring
Basic Usage
Show processes for current shell
ps
Show all processes with details
ps aux
Show all processes in full format
ps -ef
Show all running processes
ps -e
Show processes for a specific user
ps -u username
Output Formatting
Custom output columns
ps -eo pid,user,%cpu,%mem,cmd
Sort by memory usage descending
ps -eo pid,ppid,cmd --sort=-%mem
Show elapsed time for processes
ps -eo pid,user,etime,cmd
Show nice value of processes
ps -eo pid,ni,cmd
Sort all processes by CPU usage
ps aux --sort=-%cpu
Filtering
Show process by specific PID
ps -p 1234
Show processes by command name
ps -C nginx
Show processes owned by root
ps -U root
Filter processes by pattern
ps aux | grep python
Find Java processes with PIDs
ps -eo pid,cmd | grep java
Process Tree
Show process tree with ASCII art
ps auxf
Show process hierarchy
ps -ejH
Display processes in tree format
ps --forest
Show full process tree with PIDs
pstree -p
Common Patterns
Show top 10 CPU consuming processes
ps aux --sort=-%cpu | head -11
Show top 10 memory consuming processes
ps aux --sort=-%mem | head -11
Show process start date and time
ps -eo pid,lstart,cmd
Show process state codes
ps -eo pid,stat,cmd
Sort by resident memory size
ps -eo pid,rss,cmd --sort=-rss
Quick Commands
Show all running processes with detailed information
ps aux
Display all processes in full format listing
ps -ef
Show processes with custom output columns
ps -eo pid,user,%cpu,%mem,cmd