proc_pid_cmdline(5) — Linux manual page
proc_pid_cmdline(5) File Formats Manual proc_pid_cmdline(5)
NAME
/proc/pid/cmdline - command line
DESCRIPTION
/proc/pid/cmdline
This read-only file holds the complete command line for
the process, unless the process is a zombie. In the
latter case, there is nothing in this file: that is, a
read on this file will return 0 characters.
For processes which are still running, the command-line
arguments appear in this file in the same layout as they
do in process memory: If the process is well-behaved, it
is a set of strings separated by null bytes ('\0'), with a
further null byte after the last string.
This is the common case, but processes have the freedom to
override the memory region and break assumptions about the
contents or format of the /proc/pid/cmdline file.
If, after an execve(2), the process modifies its argv
strings, those changes will show up here. This is not the
same thing as modifying the argv array.
Furthermore, a process may change the memory location that
this file refers via prctl(2) operations such as
PR_SET_MM_ARG_START.
Think of this file as the command line that the process
wants you to see.
SEE ALSO
proc(5)
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