Linux Shell Scripting Cookbook - Third Edition

Creating a tree view of processes

The ps command can report a process PID, but tracking from a child to the ultimate parent is tedious. Adding f to the end of the ps command creates a tree view of the processes, showing the parent-child relationship between tasks. The next example shows an ssh session invoked from a bash shell running inside xterm:

$ ps -u clif f | grep -A2 xterm | head -3
15281  ?      S     0:00 xterm 
15284 pts/20  Ss+   0:00 \_ bash
15286 pts/20  S+    0:18 \_ ssh 192.168.1.2