NAME

       runlevel - Print previous and current SysV runlevel

SYNOPSIS

       runlevel [options...]

OVERVIEW

       "Runlevels" are an obsolete way to start and stop groups of services used in SysV init.
       systemd provides a compatibility layer that maps runlevels to targets, and associated
       binaries like runlevel. Nevertheless, only one runlevel can be "active" at a given time,
       while systemd can activate multiple targets concurrently, so the mapping to runlevels is
       confusing and only approximate. Runlevels should not be used in new code, and are mostly
       useful as a shorthand way to refer the matching systemd targets in kernel boot parameters.

       Table 1. Mapping between runlevels and systemd targets
       ┌─────────┬───────────────────┐
       │Runlevel │ Target            │
       ├─────────┼───────────────────┤
       │0        │ poweroff.target   │
       ├─────────┼───────────────────┤
       │1        │ rescue.target     │
       ├─────────┼───────────────────┤
       │2, 3, 4  │ multi-user.target │
       ├─────────┼───────────────────┤
       │5        │ graphical.target  │
       ├─────────┼───────────────────┤
       │6        │ reboot.target     │
       └─────────┴───────────────────┘

DESCRIPTION

       runlevel prints the previous and current SysV runlevel if they are known.

       The two runlevel characters are separated by a single space character. If a runlevel
       cannot be determined, N is printed instead. If neither can be determined, the word
       "unknown" is printed.

       Unless overridden in the environment, this will check the utmp database for recent
       runlevel changes.

OPTIONS

       The following option is understood:

       --help
           Print a short help text and exit.

EXIT STATUS

       If one or both runlevels could be determined, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code
       otherwise.

ENVIRONMENT

       $RUNLEVEL
           If $RUNLEVEL is set, runlevel will print this value as current runlevel and ignore
           utmp.

       $PREVLEVEL
           If $PREVLEVEL is set, runlevel will print this value as previous runlevel and ignore
           utmp.

FILES

       /run/utmp
           The utmp database runlevel reads the previous and current runlevel from.

           Added in version 237.

SEE ALSO

       systemd(1), systemd.target(5), systemctl(1)