Q. How do I list all open files for a Linux or UNIX process using command line options?
A. Both Linux and UNIX like operating systems comes with various utilities to find out open files associated with process.
Task: UNIX List Open Files For Process
First use ps command to get PID of process, enter:
$ ps -aef | grep {process-name}
$ ps -aef | grep httpd
Next pass this PID to pfiles command,
$ pfiles {PID}
$ pfile 3533
Task: Linux List Open Files For Process
First you need to find out PID of process. Simply use any one of the following command to obtain process id:
# ps aux | grep {program-name}
OR
$ ps -C {program-name} -o pid=
For example, find out PID of firefox web-browser, enter:
$ ps -C firefox -o pid=
Output:
7857
To list opne files for firefox process, enter:
$ ls -l /proc/7857/fd
Sample output:
total 0 lr-x------ 1 vivek vivek 64 2008-03-05 22:31 0 -> /dev/null l-wx------ 1 vivek vivek 64 2008-03-05 22:31 1 -> pipe:[18371] lr-x------ 1 vivek vivek 64 2008-03-05 22:31 10 -> /usr/lib/firefox/firefox l-wx------ 1 vivek vivek 64 2008-03-05 22:31 2 -> pipe:[18371]
lsof command
lsof command list open files under all Linux distributions or UNIX like operating system. Type the following command to list open file for process ID 351:
$ lsof -p 351
Here is a cool lsof trick that shows you what port is in use by which program:
lsof -iTCP:80
lsof -p `ps -C firefox -o pid=`
in a single line
For the single line lovers, here is another:
lsof -p `pgrep firefox-bin`
pgrep could be not automatically installed by your distro.
Hi,,,, lsof is not giving the results in my Linux server,
whenever i give the command ” lsof -u OSuser|wc -l ” its gives error saying “command not found”
Install lsof package.
netstat -vatupn
How can i see all files that opened by a specific pid and all it’s threads.
My C++ program opens 200 threads per process but i do not see all file descriptors that were opened by each thread.
Hi there,
Is it possible to do it in the opposite direction. How to know which process created a particular file?
I’ve just discovered your site, thanks a lot for sharing so much good stuff.
Javier.
It is possible to see which process has a particular file open using fuser.
you could just use lsof like this.
lsof | grep path/to/filename.
I’m afraid there are no way to get process which created file. :(
What a pity! Thks for your help man.
javier:
>>> Is it possible to do it in the opposite direction. How to know which process created a particular file?
if the file is open try
fuser
fuser -m (or . in case file is not accessible)
will return all processes that have locked this file (or directory in case file is not accessible)
then proceed as suggested with lsof -p | grep
What is man difference between lsof & pmap?
Oneliner for Linux ; )
lsof -p $(ps -ef | grep [PROGRAM_NAME] | grep -v grep | awk ‘{print $2}’)
How could you get the files opened by a process using kernel modules?
I mean, what would be the corespondent for ps aux | grep ?
10x
simpler way..
it doesn’t works when i try to do ‘lsof -p ‘ and got message as below
/opt/csw/bin/lsof -p 22982
lsof: can’t stat(/devices): No such file or directory
I am using weblogic osb in red hat linux system,and the command pfiles is not found.
My aim is to find File Descriptor’s total capacity
command which i am running is:
procfiles | grep rlimit
Please help.
My server doesn’t have lsof installed.
This works for me though:
ls -l /proc/*/fd | grep
Yeah… lsof comes from something that used to be called ‘ofiles’ I think…. Hit nothing searching for ‘ofiles’ so I’m including this comment ! ;)