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] [-p, --show-pids]
       [-s, --show-parents] [-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.  -p 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 the display width or 132 if
              output is sent to a non-tty or if the display width is unknown.

       -n     Sort processes with the same ancestor by PID instead of by name.  (Numeric sort.)

       -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.

       -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 compilied 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).