lsof stands for List Open Files.
It is easy to remember lsof command if you think of it as “ls +
of”, where ls stands for list, and of stands for open files.
It is a command line utility which is used to list the information
about the files that are opened by various processes. In unix, everything is a
file, ( pipes, sockets, directories, devices, etc.). So by using lsof, you can
get the information about any opened files.
1. Introduction to lsof
Simply typing lsof will provide a list of all open files belonging
to all active processes.
# lsof
COMMAND PID USER FD
TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE
NAME
init 1 root cwd
DIR 8,1
4096 2 /
init 1 root txt
REG 8,1 124704
917562 /sbin/init
init 1 root
0u CHR 1,3
0t0 4369 /dev/null
init 1 root
1u CHR 1,3
0t0 4369 /dev/null
init 1 root
2u CHR 1,3
0t0 4369 /dev/null
init 1 root
3r FIFO 0,8
0t0 6323 pipe
By default One file per line is displayed. Most of the columns are self
explanatory. We will explain the details about couple of cryptic columns (FD
and TYPE).
FD – Represents the file descriptor. Some of the values of FDs are,
cwd – Current Working Directory
txt – Text file
mem – Memory mapped file
mmap – Memory mapped device
NUMBER – Represent the actual file descriptor. The character after
the number i.e ’1u’, represents the mode in which the file is opened. r for
read, w for write, u for read and write.
TYPE – Specifies the type of the file. Some of the values of TYPEs
are,
REG – Regular File
DIR – Directory
FIFO – First In First Out
CHR – Character special file
For a complete list of FD & TYPE, refer man lsof.
2. List processes which opened a specific file
You can list only the processes which opened a specific file, by providing the
filename as arguments.
# lsof /var/log/syslog
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE
SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
rsyslogd 488 syslog 1w REG 8,1
1151 268940 /var/log/syslog
3. List opened files under a directory
You can list the processes which opened files under a specified directory using
‘+D’ option. +D will recurse the sub directories also. If you don’t want lsof
to recurse, then use ‘+d’ option.
# lsof +D /var/log/
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE
NAME
rsyslogd 488 syslog 1w REG 8,1
1151 268940 /var/log/syslog
rsyslogd 488 syslog 2w REG 8,1
2405 269616 /var/log/auth.log
console-k 144 root 9w REG 8,1
10871 269369 /var/log/ConsoleKit/history
4. List opened files based on process names starting with
You can list the files opened by process names starting with a string, using
‘-c’ option. -c followed by the process name will list the files opened by the
process starting with that processes name. You can give multiple -c switch on a
single command line.
# lsof -c ssh -c init
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF
NODE NAME
init 1 root
txt REG 8,1 124704
917562 /sbin/init
init 1 root
mem REG 8,1 1434180 1442625
/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc-2.13.so
init 1 root
mem REG 8,1 30684
1442694 /lib/i386-linux-gnu/librt-2.13.so
ssh-agent 1528 prakash 1u CHR
1,3 0t0 4369 /dev/null
ssh-agent 1528 prakash 2u CHR
1,3 0t0 4369 /dev/null
ssh-agent 1528 prakash 3u unix 0xdf70e240
0t0 10464 /tmp/ssh-sUymKXxw1495/agent.1495
5. List processes using a mount point
Sometime when we try to umount a directory, the system will say “Device or
Resource Busy” error. So we need to find out what are all the processes using
the mount point and kill those processes to umount the directory. By using lsof
we can find those processes.
# lsof /home
The following will also work.
# lsof +D /home/
6. List files opened by a specific user
In order to find the list of files opened by a specific users, use ‘-u’ option.
# lsof -u prakash
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE
DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
update-no 1892 prakash 20r FIFO
0,8 0t0 14536 pipe
update-no 1892 prakash 21w FIFO
0,8 0t0 14536 pipe
bash 1995 prakash cwd
DIR 8,1 4096
393218 /home/prakash
Sometimes you may want to list files opened by all users, expect
some 1 or 2. In that case you can use the ‘^’ to exclude only the particular
user as follows
# lsof -u ^ prakash
COMMAND PID USER FD
TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
rtkit-dae 1380 rtkit 7u
0000 0,9 0
4360 anon_inode
udisks-da 1584 root cwd
DIR 8,1 4096
2 /
The above command listed all the files opened by all users, expect
user ‘prakash’.
7. List all open files by a specific process
You can list all the files opened by a specific process using ‘-p’ option. It
will be helpful sometimes to get more information about a specific process.
# lsof -p 1753
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE
SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
bash 1753 prakash cwd
DIR 8,1 4096 393571
/home/prakash/test.txt
bash 1753 prakash rtd DIR
8,1 4096 2 /
bash 1753 prakash 255u CHR
136,0 0t0 3 /dev/pts/0
8. Kill all process that belongs to a particular user
When you want to kill all the processes which has files opened by a specific
user, you can use ‘-t’ option to list output only the process id of the
process, and pass it to kill as follows
# kill -9 `lsof -t -u prakash`
The above command will kill all process belonging to user
‘prakash’, which has files opened.
Similarly you can also use ‘-t’ in many ways. For example, to list
process id of a process which opened /var/log/syslog can be done by
# lsof -t /var/log/syslog
489
Talking about kill, did you know that there are 4 Ways to Kill a
Process?
9. Combine more list options using OR/AND
By default when you use more than one list option in lsof, they will be ORed.
For example,
# lsof -u prakash -c init
COMMAND PID USER FD
TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
init 1 root
cwd DIR 8,1 4096
2 /
init 1 root
txt REG 8,1 124704
917562 /sbin/init
bash 1995 prakash 2u
CHR 136,2 0t0
5 /dev/pts/2
bash 1995 prakash 255u CHR
136,2 0t0
5 /dev/pts/2
...
The above command uses two list options, ‘-u’ and ‘-c’. So the
command will list process belongs to user ‘prakash’ as well as process name
starts with ‘init’.
But when you want to list a process belongs to user ‘prakash’ and
the process name starts with ‘init’, you can use ‘-a’ option.
# lsof -u prakash -c init -a
The above command will not output anything, because there is no
such process named ‘init’ belonging to user ‘prakash’.
10. Execute lsof in repeat mode
lsof also support Repeat mode. It will first list files based on the given
parameters, and delay for specified seconds and again list files based on the
given parameters. It can be interrupted by a signal.
Repeat mode can be enabled by using ‘-r’ or ‘+r’. If ‘+r’ is used
then, the repeat mode will end when no open files are found. ‘-r’ will continue
to list,delay,list until a interrupt is given irrespective of files are opened
or not.
Each cycle output will be separated by using ‘=======’. You also
also specify the time delay as ‘-r’ | ‘+r’.
# lsof -u prakash -c init -a -r5
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE
DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
inita.sh 2971 prakash cwd DIR
8,1 4096 393218 /home/prakash
inita.sh 2971 prakash rtd DIR
8,1 4096 2 /
inita.sh 2971 prakash txt REG
8,1 83848 524315 /bin/dash
inita.sh 2971 prakash mem REG
8,1 1434180 1442625 /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc-2.13.so
inita.sh 2971 prakash mem REG
8,1 117960 1442612 /lib/i386-linux-gnu/ld-2.13.so
inita.sh 2971 prakash 0u CHR 136,4
0t0 7 /dev/pts/4
inita.sh 2971 prakash 1u CHR 136,4
0t0 7 /dev/pts/4
inita.sh 2971 prakash 2u CHR 136,4
0t0 7 /dev/pts/4
inita.sh 2971 prakash 10r REG
8,1 20 393578 /home/prakash/inita.sh
In the above output, for the first 5 seconds, there is no output. After that a
script named “inita.sh” is started, and it list the output.
Finding Network Connection
Network connections are also files. So we can find information about them by
using lsof.
11. List all network connections
You can list all the network connections opened by using ‘-i’ option.
# lsof -i
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE
SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
avahi-dae 515 avahi 13u IPv4 6848
0t0 UDP *:mdns
avahi-dae 515 avahi 16u IPv6 6851
0t0 UDP *:52060
cupsd 1075 root 5u IPv6
22512 0t0 TCP ip6-localhost:ipp (LISTEN)
You can also use ‘-i4′ or ‘-i6′ to list only ‘IPV4′ or ‘IPV6‘ respectively.
12. List all network files in use by a specific process
You can list all the network files which is being used by a process as follows
# lsof -i -a -p 234
You can also use the following
# lsof -i -a -c ssh
The above command will list the network files opened by the
processes starting with ssh.
13. List processes which are listening on a particular port
You can list the processes which are listening on a particular port by using
‘-i’ with ‘:’ as follows
# lsof -i :25
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE
SIZE NODE NAME
exim4 2541 Debian-exim 3u IPv4
8677 TCP localhost:smtp (LISTEN)
14. List all TCP or UDP connections
You can list all the TCP or UDP connections by specifying the protocol using
‘-i’.
# lsof -i tcp; lsof -i udp;
15. List all Network File System ( NFS ) files
You can list all the NFS files by using ‘-N’ option. The following lsof command
will list all NFS files used by user ‘prakash’.
# lsof -N -u prakash -a
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