NAME

       pstree - display a tree of processes

SYNOPSIS

       pstree [-a, --arguments] [-c, --compact] [-h, --highlight-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] [-t, --thread-names] [-T, --hide-threads]
       [-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 happened.  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.  -g 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  either the COLUMNS
              environment variable or the display width.  If neither of these methods  work,  the
              default of 132 columns is used.

       -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.

       -t     Show full names for threads when available.

       -T     Hide threads and only show processes.

       -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 compiled 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).