Quick Tip

Taming `ps` Output: Focused Process Info with `awk`

Challenge: The output of the `ps` command can be overwhelmingly verbose, making it difficult to quickly find the specific information you need about running processes.

The Solution: Combine `ps` with `awk` to filter and format the output, showing only the columns you care about.

ps aux | awk '{print $1, $2, $11}'

Why it works: `ps aux` provides a comprehensive list of running processes. `awk` then processes this output line by line, and `'{print $1, $2, $11}’` tells it to only display the first, second, and eleventh fields (typically USER, PID, and COMMAND, respectively) for each line.

Pro-Tip: Use `ps -eo user,pid,command` for a more readable, predefined set of columns without needing `awk`.

Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 5/12/2026