/proc/[PID]/stat Field Reference

The /proc/[PID]/stat file exposes process status information. Each field is listed below in order of appearance.

The /proc/[PID]/stat file exposes process status information. Each field is listed below in order of appearance.

Fields

IDFieldDescription
1pidProcess ID
2tcommFilename of the executable
3stateProcess state: R running, S sleeping, D uninterruptible sleep, Z zombie, T traced or stopped
4ppidProcess ID of the parent process
5pgrpProcess group ID
6sidSession ID
7tty_nrTTY the process uses
8tty_pgrpProcess group ID of the TTY
9flagsTask flags
10min_fltNumber of minor faults
11cmin_fltNumber of minor faults including children
12maj_fltNumber of major faults
13cmaj_fltNumber of major faults including children
14utimeUser mode jiffies
15stimeKernel mode jiffies
16cutimeUser mode jiffies including children
17cstimeKernel mode jiffies including children
18priorityPriority level
19niceNice level
20num_threadsNumber of threads
21it_real_value(Obsolete, always 0)
22start_timeTime the process started after system boot
23vsizeVirtual memory size
24rssResident set memory size
25rsslimCurrent limit in bytes on the RSS
26start_codeAddress above which program text can run
27end_codeAddress below which program text can run
28start_stackAddress of the start of the main process stack
29espCurrent value of ESP
30eipCurrent value of EIP
31pendingBitmap of pending signals
32blockedBitmap of blocked signals
33sigignBitmap of ignored signals
34sigcatchBitmap of caught signals
35(placeholder)(Was wchan address — use /proc/[PID]/wchan instead)
36(placeholder)(Reserved)
37(placeholder)(Reserved)
38exit_signalSignal sent to the parent thread on exit
39task_cpuCPU the task is scheduled on
40rt_priorityRealtime priority
41policyScheduling policy (see man sched_setscheduler)
42blkio_ticksTime spent waiting for block I/O
43gtimeGuest time of the task in jiffies
44cgtimeGuest time of child tasks in jiffies
45start_dataAddress above which program data+BSS is placed
46end_dataAddress below which program data+BSS is placed
47start_brkAddress above which the heap can be expanded with brk()
48arg_startAddress above which the command line is placed
49arg_endAddress below which the command line is placed
50env_startAddress above which the environment is placed
51env_endAddress below which the environment is placed
52exit_codeThread exit code as reported by waitpid

Example

1
871869 (VN-Presence) S 12198 871869 12198 34830 871869 4194560 1205 0 173 0 46734 8492 0 0 20 0 2 0 10523393 176685056 2837 18446744073709551615 94266814361600 94266814993397 140734575381584 0 0 0 0 0 16386 0 0 0 17 16 0 0 0 0 0 94266815325280 94266815330208 94267110821888 140734575389833 140734575389847 140734575389847 140734575394794 0

Parsed field by field:

IDFieldValueNotes
1pid871869Process ID
2tcomm(VN-Presence)Executable name
3stateSSleeping (interruptible)
4ppid12198Parent PID
5pgrp871869Process group ID
6sid12198Session ID
7tty_nr34830TTY device number
8tty_pgrp871869Foreground process group of TTY
9flags4194560Task flags
10min_flt1205Minor page faults
11cmin_flt0Minor faults including children
12maj_flt173Major page faults
13cmaj_flt0Major faults including children
14utime46734User-mode CPU time (jiffies) — ~467s at 100 Hz
15stime8492Kernel-mode CPU time (jiffies) — ~84s at 100 Hz
16cutime0Children user-mode jiffies
17cstime0Children kernel-mode jiffies
18priority20Kernel priority
19nice0Nice value (0 = default)
20num_threads2Thread count
21it_real_value0Obsolete, always 0
22start_time10523393Jiffies after boot when process started
23vsize176685056Virtual memory size (168 MiB)
24rss2837Resident set size (pages) — 2837 × 4 KiB ≈ 11 MiB
25rsslim18446744073709551615RSS limit (0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF = unlimited)
26start_code94266814361600Start of executable text segment
27end_code94266814993397End of executable text segment
28start_stack140734575381584Stack start address
29esp0Current stack pointer
30eip0Current instruction pointer
31pending0Pending signals bitmap
32blocked0Blocked signals bitmap
33sigign16386Ignored signals bitmap
34sigcatch0Caught signals bitmap
35(placeholder)0(Was wchan)
36(placeholder)0(Reserved)
37(placeholder)0(Reserved)
38exit_signal17Signal sent to parent on exit (17 = SIGCHLD)
39task_cpu16Last CPU the task ran on
40rt_priority0Realtime priority (0 = not realtime)
41policy0Scheduling policy (0 = SCHED_NORMAL)
42blkio_ticks0Block I/O wait ticks
43gtime0Guest time (jiffies)
44cgtime0Children guest time (jiffies)
45start_data94266815325280Start of data+BSS segment
46end_data94266815330208End of data+BSS segment
47start_brk94267110821888Start of heap
48arg_start140734575389833Start of command-line args
49arg_end140734575389847End of command-line args
50env_start140734575389847Start of environment
51env_end140734575394794End of environment
52exit_code0Exit code

Notes

  • Fields are space-separated and appear in the order listed above.
  • Time values (utime, stime, etc.) are measured in jiffies (clock ticks). Divide by sysconf(_SC_CLK_TCK) to convert to seconds.

References

Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Last updated on Tuesday, March 31, 2026