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

The printa action enables you to display and format aggregations. See Chapter 3, Aggregations for more detail on aggregations. If a format is not specified, printa traces only a directive to the DTrace consumer that the specified aggregation should be processed and displayed using the default format. If a format is specified, the aggregation is formatted. See Section 6.2, “printa” for a more detailed description of the printa format string.

printa traces only a directive that the aggregation should be processed by the DTrace consumer. It does not process the aggregation in the kernel. Therefore, the time between the tracing of the printa directive and the actual processing of the directive depends on the factors that affect buffer processing. These factors include the aggregation rate, the buffering policy and, if the buffering policy is switching, the rate at which buffers are switched. See Chapter 3, Aggregations and Chapter 5, Buffers and Buffering for detailed descriptions of the factors.