Quick Tip

Effortless Process Monitoring with `ps` and `awk`

TITLE: Effortless Process Monitoring with `ps` and `awk`

Challenge: The output of the `ps` command can be overwhelming, making it difficult to quickly find and analyze specific process information.

The Solution: Combine `ps` with `awk` to filter and format the output, allowing you to focus on the exact process details you need.

ps aux | awk '{print $2, $11}'

Why it works: `ps aux` provides a comprehensive list of running processes, and `awk` is used here to select and print only the Process ID (PID) (field 2) and the command name (field 11). This significantly reduces the noise in the output.

Pro-Tip: To see processes owned by a specific user, you can add a condition to awk: `ps aux | awk ‘/^username/ {print $2, $11}’` (replace ‘username’ with the actual username).

Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 6/23/2026