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 How to find files on Linux There are many options you can use to find files on Linux, including searching by file name (or partial name), age, owner, group, size, type and inode number. By Sandra Henry Stocker Jun 24, 2024 8 mins Linux opinion Linux in your car: Red Hat’s milestone collaboration with exida With contributions from Red Hat and critical collaborators, the safety and security of automotive vehicles has reached a new level of reliability. By Sandra Henry Stocker Jun 17, 2024 5 mins Linux how-to How to print from the Linux command line: double-sided, landscape and more There's a lot more to printing from the Linux command line than the lp command. Check out some of the many available options. By Sandra Henry Stocker Jun 11, 2024 6 mins Linux how-to Converting between uppercase and lowercase on the Linux command line Converting text between uppercase and lowercase can be very tedious, especially when you want to avoid inadvertent misspellings. Fortunately, Linux provides a handful of commands that can make the job very easy. By Sandra Henry Stocker Jun 07, 2024 5 mins Linux PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe