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The pstree command

The pstree command is similar to ps, but instead of listing the running processes, it shows them as a tree. The tree-like format is sometimes more suitable way to display the processes hierarchy which is a much simpler way to visualize running processes. The root of the tree is either init or the process with the given pid.

Examples

  1. To display a hierarchical tree structure of all running processes:

pstree

  1. To display a tree with the given process as the root of the tree:

pstree [pid]

  1. To show only those processes that have been started by a user:

pstree [USER]

  1. To show the parent processes of the given process:

pstree -s [PID]

  1. To view the output one page at a time, pipe it to the less command:

pstree | less

Syntax

ps [OPTIONS] [USER or PID]

Additional Flags and their Functionalities

Short Flag Long Flag Description
-a --arguments Show command line arguments
-A --ascii use ASCII line drawing characters
-c --compact Don't compact identical subtrees
-h --highlight-all Highlight current process and its ancestors
-H PID --highlight-pid=PID highlight this process and its ancestors
-g --show-pgids show process group ids; implies -c
-G --vt100 use VT100 line drawing characters
-l --long Don't truncate long lines
-n --numeric-sort Sort output by PID
-N type --ns-sort=type Sort by namespace type (cgroup, ipc, mnt, net, pid, user, uts)
-p --show-pids show PIDs; implies -c
-s --show-parents Show parents of the selected process
-S --ns-changes show namespace transitions
-t --thread-names Show full thread names
-T --hide-threads Hide threads, show only processes
-u --uid-changes Show uid transitions
-U --unicode Use UTF-8 (Unicode) line drawing characters
-V --version Display version information
-Z --security-context Show SELinux security contexts
Last update: 2022-05-12
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