Can Ps Command Show Genuine Argv[] Arguments Passed to a Process?
This Is a Subtle Problem I Find Today. the Ps Command Can Show Command Arguments for a Process, but I Find the Feature Crippled. for a Shell Command Line Like...
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This is a subtle problem I find today. The ps command can show command arguments for a process, but I find the feature crippled.
For a shell command line like this:
gdbserver localhost:5050 testg "hello world" 123
We know that gdbserver's main() will see:
| argv[] | C string |
|---|---|
| argv[1] | localhost:5050 |
| argv[2] | testg |
| argv[3] | hello world |
| argv[4] | 123 |
However, ps -ef shows
gdbserver localhost:5050 testg hello world 123
So it looks like argv[3] is hello, which is so misleading.
So may question is clear, is there way to have ps show genuine argv[] values? man ps does not seem to refer to this issue. If it can't, any alternative tools?
Here is a screen shot from Ubuntu Linux 20.04.
1 Answer
No, PS can not (I think), but you can get it from proc e.g. /proc/PID/cmdline the cmdline file is a null separated list of the args of a program so this script will parce it
hexdump -v -e '/1 "%02X "' /proc/PID/cmdline | sed 's/00/0a/g' | xxd -r -p
hexdump -v -e '/1 "%02X "' /proc/PID/cmdlinewill dump the file as hex each bite has a space in between it.sed 's/00/0a/g'replaces the 00 (null) with 0a (line ending or new line)xxd -r -ptakes the hex and converts it back to binary So the output will be a list of args with a new line in between them.
David Miller brings 15 years of experience in global economics, personal finance strategy, and market dynamics. He specializes in turning complex economic trends into actionable insights for everyday readers.
