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fuser - Lists process IDs of processes that are using one or more files or file structures
/usr/sbin/fuser [-cdfku] [-h][-vH]
file .../
[- [-cdfku] [-h] [-vH] file ...] ...
Identifies file as a mount point. In this case, fuser reports on any files that are open in the mounted file system. Report any referenced files that have been deleted including the referencing PID and the block count for the file in 512 byte block units. Requests a report only for the specified files. If a specified file is a mount point, fuser reports only on that file, not on any files below it. Suppresses column headings in fuser output when used with the -v flag. Directs fuser to display information about its command-line options. Directs fuser to send a SIGKILL signal to each process. Because this flag spawns a kill operation for each process, the kill messages may not show up immediately. Directs fuser to show the user login name, in parentheses, associated with each process ID. Directs fuser to display results in verbose form.
Directs fuser to ignore previous flag settings for the next set of file parameters. The - operand allows you to apply different flags to different sets of files in the same command line. Specifies the pathname of the file or the mount point of the file system on which fuser reports.
The fuser utility writes to standard output the process IDs of processes that are running on the local system and have one or more files or file structures in use. The utility writes to standard error additional information about these resources that indicates how each resource is being used.
If file identifies a block special device, fuser lists all processes using any file on that device.
This utility does not display information about files for which you do not have the appropriate privileges. For information on many files, root privilege may be required. Furthermore, you must have appropriate privileges to use the -k flag.
The utility uses the following format to write the process ID for each process using each file:
"%d", process_id
The fuser utility writes diagnostic messages to standard error.
In addition, the utility writes the following information to standard error: The pathname of each file, immediately followed by a colon. For each process ID written to standard output, one of the following characters: If the process is using the file as its current directory. If the process is using a memory-mapped file. If the process is using the file as the parent of its current directory. If the process is using the file as its root directory. If the process has the file open. If the process is using the file as its controlling tty. If the process is using the text file as an executable.
When standard output and standard error are directed to the same file, the utility intersperses output so that the file appears at the start of each line, followed by the process ID and the characters indicating file use. Then, if the -u option is specified, the utility writes the user name or user ID for each process that is using that file. The utility writes a newline character at the end of output for each file.
The following environment variables affect this utility: Provides a default value for the locale variables that are unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value from the POSIX (C) locale is used. If any of the locale variables contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of the variables had been set. If set to a non-empty string value, overrides the values of all the other locale variables. Specifies the locale used to interpret sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, determines whether arguments contain single-byte or multibyte characters). Specifies the locale that affects the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error. Determines the location of message catalogs for the processing of LC_MESSAGES.
The fuser utility may not report on processes that begin using a file while the utility is running. Furthermore, processes that fuser reports are using a file may have stopped using it while the utility was running.
The following command lists the process IDs of processes using the /etc/hosts file:
The fuser utility returns the following exit values: Successful completion. An error occurred.
Functions: fuser(2), kill(2) delim off