Linux: ps -awx vs. ps -awwx
Does anyone know the difference of ps -awx vs. ps -awwx
?
I'm tracking down some processes, and I see significantly more information when I add an additional "w". Does this work like in other cases (such as SSH debugging) when you issue multiple "v", the more "verbose" the output is? I didn't see anything in the man pages about this.
Quoth the man page (man ps
):
-w Use 132 columns to display information, instead of the default which is your window
size. If the -w option is specified more than once, ps will use as many columns
as necessary without regard for your window size.
When output is not to a terminal, an unlimited number of columns are always used.
Note that the above is from a BSD manpage. A debian manpage is somewhat more terse/less specific, but similar:
-w Wide output. Use this option twice for unlimited width.
The -w
switch says to use Wide output but the width is limited. Using -ww
says to use unlimited width output so you get to see the full command line for a command wrapped as many times as it takes. Adding additional w
s beyond 2 has no effect.