Data Recording Actions

The actions in this section record data to the principal buffer by default, but each action may also be used to record data to speculative buffers. See Speculative Tracing for more details on speculative buffers.

The trace() function

void trace(expression)

The most basic action is the trace() action, which takes a D expression as its argument and traces the result to the directed buffer.

The tracemem() function

void tracemem(address, size_t nbytes)

The tracemem() action copies data from an address in memory to a buffer . The number of bytes that this action copies is specified in nbytes. The address that the data is copied from is specified in addr as a D expression. The buffer that the data is copied to is specified in buf.

The printf() function

void printf(string format, ...) 

Like the trace() action, the printf() action traces D expressions. However, the printf() action lets you control formatting in ways similar to the printf(3C) function. Like the printf function, the parameters consists of a format string followed by a variable number of arguments. By default, the arguments are traced to the directed buffer. The arguments are later formatted for output by the dtrace command according to the specified format string.

For more information on the printf() action, see Chapter 12, Output Formatting, in Solaris Dynamic Tracing Guide.

The printa() function

void printa(aggregation)
void printa(string format, aggregation)

The printa() action enables you to display and format aggregations. See Chapter 9, Aggregations, in Solaris Dynamic Tracing Guide for more detail on aggregations. If a format value is not provided, the printa() action only traces a directive to the DTrace consumer. The consumer that receives that directive processes and displays the aggregation with the default format. See Chapter 12, Output Formatting, in Solaris Dynamic Tracing Guide for a more detailed description of the printa() format string.

The stack() function

void stack(int nframes)
void stack(void)

The stack() action records a kernel stack trace to the directed buffer. The depth of the kernel stack is given by the value given in nframes. If no value is given for nframes, the stack action records a number of stack frames specified by the stackframes option.

The ustack() function

void ustack(int nframes, int strsize)
void ustack(int nframes)
void ustack(void)

The ustack() action records a user stack trace to the directed buffer. The depth of the user stack is equal to the value specified in nframes. If there is no value for nframes, the ustack action records a number of stack frames that is specified by the ustackframes option. The ustack() action determines the address of the calling frames when the probe fires. The ustack() action does not translate the stack frames into symbols until the DTrace consumer processes the ustack() action at the user level. If a value for strsize is specified and not zero, the ustack() action allocates the specified amount of string space and uses it to perform address-to-symbol translation directly from the kernel.

The jstack() function

void jstack(int nframes, int strsize)
void jstack(int nframes)
void jstack(void)

The jstack() action is an alias for ustack() that uses the value specified by the jstackframes option for the number of stack frames. The jstack action uses the value specified by the jstackstrsize option to determine the string space size. The jstacksize action defaults to a non-zero value.