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How to see only running services with systemctl

How to see only running services with systemctl?

Run systemctl and define the type (--type) and state (--state) options.

systemctl --type=service --state=running --legend=false

The systemctl command will normally all active units. To filter this output to just the running services, we can combine the options --type= and --state=. For this particular case we set the type to service and the type state to running.

Usage

# systemctl --type=service --state=running --legend=false
  accounts-daemon.service   loaded active running Accounts Service
  avahi-daemon.service      loaded active running Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack
  colord.service            loaded active running Manage, Install and Generate Color Profiles
  dbus-broker.service       loaded active running D-Bus System Message Bus
  firewalld.service         loaded active running firewalld - dynamic firewall daemon
  gdm.service               loaded active running GNOME Display Manager
  NetworkManager.service    loaded active running Network Manager
  polkit.service            loaded active running Authorization Manager
  qemu-guest-agent.service  loaded active running QEMU Guest Agent
  rtkit-daemon.service      loaded active running RealtimeKit Scheduling Policy Service
  spice-vdagentd.service    loaded active running Agent daemon for Spice guests
  sshd.service              loaded active running OpenSSH Daemon
  systemd-journald.service  loaded active running Journal Service
  systemd-logind.service    loaded active running User Login Management
  systemd-timesyncd.service loaded active running Network Time Synchronization
  systemd-udevd.service     loaded active running Rule-based Manager for Device Events and Files
  systemd-userdbd.service   loaded active running User Database Manager
  udisks2.service           loaded active running Disk Manager
  upower.service            loaded active running Daemon for power management
  user@1000.service         loaded active running User Manager for UID 1000
  wpa_supplicant.service    loaded active running WPA supplicant

This command will show just services that are running. The legend is set to false, meaning no header and footer are displayed.

Learn more about systemctl

This article uses the systemctl command to achieve its tasks. For this popular tool there is a cheat sheet available!

» Mastering the tool: systemctl

systemctl cheat sheet

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This article has been written by our Linux security expert Michael Boelen. With focus on creating high-quality articles and relevant examples, he wants to improve the field of Linux security. No more web full of copy-pasted blog posts.

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