ps -ef vs ps aux

Question

What is the difference between

ps -ef | grep thin

and

ps aux | grep thin

As per the output there is a variation but i'm not clear what are the things being listed.

Here's a good explanation: http://superuser.com/questions/117913/ps-aux-output-meaning — Rinzwind, May 02 '12 at 10:19

score 71 · Accepted Answer · answered May 02 '12 at 12:20

71

Both list all processes of all users. In that aspect -e and ax are completely equivalent.

Where they differ is output format specifier, -f is "full", while u is "user-oriented". The displayed columns are different:

columns for ps -f

UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD

columns for ps u

USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND

answered May 02 '12 at 12:20

vartec

6,975

10

This answer would be greatly improved by a definition for each of the column headers, or at least for the relatively non-obvious ones like "C" and "VSZ." – Wildcard Oct 25 '16 at 19:42

Cédric Julien · Answer 2 · 2012-05-02T11:58:17.047

19

There are no differences in the output because the meanings are the same.

The difference between ps -ef and ps aux is due to historical divergences between POSIX and BSD systems. At the beginning, POSIX accepted the -ef while the BSD accepted only the aux form.

Today, both systems accept the two forms.

edited May 02 '12 at 11:58

answered May 02 '12 at 10:06

Cédric Julien

2,797

7

Technically he is asking WHAT those differences are ;) – Rinzwind May 02 '12 at 10:18

ps -ef vs ps aux

2 Answers2