SYSLINE(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual SYSLINE(1)
sysline - display system status on status line of a terminal
S
\bSY
\bYN
\bNO
\bOP
\bPS
\bSI
\bIS
\bS
s
\bsy
\bys
\bsl
\bli
\bin
\bne
\be [ -
\b-b
\bbc
\bcd
\bde
\bew
\bwh
\bhD
\bDi
\bil
\blm
\bmp
\bpq
\bqr
\brs
\bsj
\bj ] [ -
\b-H
\bH r
\bre
\bem
\bmo
\bot
\bte
\be ] [ +
\b+N
\bN ]
D
\bDE
\bES
\bSC
\bCR
\bRI
\bIP
\bPT
\bTI
\bIO
\bON
\bN
_
\bS_
\by_
\bs_
\bl_
\bi_
\bn_
\be runs in the background and periodically displays
system status information on the status line of the termi-
nal. Not all terminals contain a status line. Those that
do include the h19, concept 108, Ann Arbor Ambassador,
vt100, Televideo 925/950 and Freedom 100. If no flags are
given, _
\bs_
\by_
\bs_
\bl_
\bi_
\bn_
\be displays the time of day, the current load
average, the change in load average in the last 5 minutes,
the number of users (followed by a `u'), the number of runn-
able process (followed by a `r')[VAX only], the number of
suspended processes (followed by a `s')[VAX only], and the
users who have logged on and off since the last status
report. Finally, if new mail has arrived, a summary of it
is printed. If there is unread mail in your mailbox, an
asterisk will appear after the display of the number of
users. The display is normally in reverse video (if your
terminal supports this in the status line) and is right jus-
tified to reduce distraction. Every fifth display is done
in normal video to give the screen a chance to rest.
If you have a file named .who in your home directory, then
the contents of that file is printed first. One common use
of this feature is to alias chdir, pushd, and popd to place
the current directory stack in ~/.who after it changes the
The following flags may be given on the command line.
-
\b-b
\bb Beep once every half hour and twice every hour,
just like those obnoxious watches you keep hear-
-
\b-c
\bc Clear the status line for 5 seconds before each
-
\b-d
\bd Debug mode -- print status line data in human
-
\b-D
\bD Print out the current day/date before the time.
-
\b-e
\be Print out only the information. Do not print
out the control commands necessary to put the
information on the bottom line. This option is
useful for putting the output of _
\bs_
\by_
\bs_
\bl_
\bi_
\bn_
\be onto
the mode line of an emacs window.
Printed 7/9/88 June 5, 1986 1
SYSLINE(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual SYSLINE(1)
-
\b-w
\bw Window mode -- print the status on the current
line of the terminal, suitable for use inside a
-
\b-H
\bH r
\bre
\bem
\bmo
\bot
\bte
\be Print the load average on the remote host _
\br_
\be_
\bm_
\bo_
\bt_
\be
[VAX only]. If the host is down, or is not
sending out _
\br_
\bw_
\bh_
\bo_
\bd packets, then the down time is
printed instead. If the prefix "ucb" is
present, then it is removed.
-
\b-h
\bh Print out the host machine's name after the time
-
\b-l
\bl Don't print the names of people who log in and
-
\b-m
\bm Don't check for mail.
-
\b-p
\bp Don't report the number of process which are
-
\b-r
\br Don't display in reverse video.
+
\b+N
\bN Update the status line every N seconds. The
-
\b-q
\bq Don't print out diagnostic messages if something
goes wrong when starting up.
-
\b-i
\bi Print out the process id of the _
\bs_
\by_
\bs_
\bl_
\bi_
\bn_
\be process
onto standard output upon startup. With this
information you can send the alarm signal to the
_
\bs_
\by_
\bs_
\bl_
\bi_
\bn_
\be process to cause it to update immedi-
ately. _
\bs_
\by_
\bs_
\bl_
\bi_
\bn_
\be writes to the standard error, so
you can redirect the standard output into a file
-
\b-s
\bs Print "short" form of line by left-justifying
_
\bi_
\bf_
\bf escapes are not allowed in the status line.
Some terminals (the Televideos and Freedom 100
for example) do not allow cursor movement (or
other "intelligent" operations) in the status
line. For these terminals, _
\bs_
\by_
\bs_
\bl_
\bi_
\bn_
\be normally
uses blanks to cause right-justification. This
flag will disable the adding of the blanks.
-
\b-j
\bj Force the sysline output to be left justified
even on terminals capable of cursor movement on
If you have a file .syslinelock in your home directory, then
_
\bs_
\by_
\bs_
\bl_
\bi_
\bn_
\be will not update its statistics and write on your
Printed 7/9/88 June 5, 1986 2
SYSLINE(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual SYSLINE(1)
screen, it will just go to sleep for a minute. This is use-
ful if you want to momentarily disable _
\bs_
\by_
\bs_
\bl_
\bi_
\bn_
\be. Note that it
may take a few seconds from the time the lock file is
created until you are guaranteed that _
\bs_
\by_
\bs_
\bl_
\bi_
\bn_
\be will not write
/etc/utmp names of people who are logged in
/dev/kmem contains process table [VAX only]
/usr/spool/rwho/whod.* who/uptime information for remote hosts [VAX only]
${HOME}/.who information to print on bottom line
${HOME}/.syslinelock when it exists, sysline will not print
A
\bAU
\bUT
\bTH
\bHO
\bOR
\bRS
\bS
Tom Ferrin converted it to use termcap.
Mark Horton added terminfo capability.
If you interrupt the display then you may find your cursor
missing or stuck on the status line. The best thing to do
If there is too much for one line, the excess is thrown
Printed 7/9/88 June 5, 1986 3
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