System Administration Guide, Volume 2

The /proc File System and Commands

In addition, process tools are available in the /usr/proc/bin directory that display highly detailed information about the processes listed in the /proc directory, also known as the process file system (PROCFS). Images of active processes are stored here by their process ID number.

The process tools are similar to some options of the ps command, except that the output provided by the tools is more detailed. In general, the process tools: