pstree command

pstree shows processes and their children like a tree

Typical usage: diagnosing process issues, information gathering, troubleshooting

Installation
Usage
- Options

Introduction into pstree

The pstree command is a tool for Linux systems to show active processes, including their hierarchy. When a process has child processes, it will be listed one level deeper. Due to the format it is called a tree.

Example output:

systemd─┬─agetty
        ├─auditd───{auditd}
        ├─cron
        ├─dbus-daemon
        ├─dhclient
        ├─dovecot─┬─anvil
        │         ├─config
        │         └─log
        ├─nginx───2*[nginx]
        ├─qemu-ga───{qemu-ga}
        ├─sshd─┬─sshd───sshd───bash───su───bash
        │      └─sshd───sshd───bash───su───bash───pstree
        ├─systemd───(sd-pam)
        ├─systemd-journal
        ├─systemd-logind
        ├─systemd-timesyn───{systemd-timesyn}
        └─systemd-udevd

Installation

When pstree is not installed by default, it can be added to the system using the relevant software package.

Package information for pstree

Operating system	Package name	Installation
AlmaLinux	psmisc	`dnf install psmisc`
Arch Linux	psmisc	`pacman -S psmisc`
Debian	psmisc	`apt install psmisc`
Fedora	psmisc	`dnf install psmisc`
Red Hat Enterprise Linux	psmisc	`dnf install psmisc`
Rocky Linux	psmisc	`dnf install psmisc`
openSUSE	psmisc	`zypper install psmisc`
Ubuntu	psmisc	`apt install psmisc`

Your Linux distribution using a different package? Share your feedback.

Usage

Available options

Long option	Short option	Description
--color ARG	-C	Use color in output. ARG can be 'age' which marks oldest, recent and new processes
--ns-sort=TYPE	-N TYPE	Show processes sorted by a namespace (ipc, mnt, net, pid, time, user, uts)
--show-pids	-p	Include process ID (PID)

Missing an option in this overview? Share your feedback.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the pstree command and its purpose?

The pstree command is a command-line tool to show which processes and their children in a visual representation like a tree.

Which package provides the pstree command?

The command pstree is provided by the psmisc package.

Related and similar commands

Linux has a lot of tools and commands available and sometimes you just need that little other tool. Here is a list of commands that are similar or related to pstree:

Related and similar commands to pstree
Command	Category	Summary
basename	files	Strips directory and file name suffix from a given path
chrt	processes	Sets Linux scheduler policy and priority for a process or command
kill	processes	Sending signals to processes
nice	processes	Runs commands with specified priority
numactl	processes	Controls NUMA policy for processes and shared memory
peekfd	processes	Tracks a process and show file descriptor activity
pidof	processes	Returns process IDs for a process name
pidstat	monitoring	Monitoring CPU, memory, and disk activity
pidwait	processes	Wait for process to stop
pmap	processes	Shows memory mapping of process
prtstat	processes	Shows process details for selected process like state, CPU and memory usage
pscap	capabilities	Display available capabilities for running processes
pslog	logging	Shows which log files a process has opened
pwdx	processes	Shows current working directory of a process
renice	processes	Changes the priority of running processes
slabtop	memory	Shows slab usage of kernel
smem	memory	Show memory usage including swap
strace	process inspection	Inspects running process
units	data conversion	Converts a unit into another one, like from Celcius to Fahrenheit
watch	processes	Monitors changes in output of specified command

Also 💙 the command-line or terminal? Here is a set of cheat sheets for Linux to get more done from within the shell: