NAME

fuser - identify processes using a file or file structure

SYNOPSIS

/usr/sbin/fuser [-[c|f]ku] files | resources [[-]  [[c|f]ku]
files | resources] . . .

DESCRIPTION

fuser outputs the process IDs of the processes that are using the files or remote resources specified as arguments. Each process ID is followed by a letter code, interpreted as follows: if the process is using the file as 1) its current directory, the code is c, 2) its root directory, the code is r, 3) an open file, the code is o, or 4) its text file, the code is t. For block special devices with mounted file systems, all processes using any file on that device are listed. For remote resource names, all processes using any file associated with that remote resource (Remote File Sharing) are reported. For all other types of files (text files, executables, directories, devices, etc.) only the processes using that file are reported.

The following options may be used with fuser:

-c may be used with files that are mount points for file systems. With that option the report is for use of the mount point and any files within that mounted file system.

-f when this is used, the report is only for the named file, not for files within a mounted file system.

-u the user login name, in parentheses, also follows the process ID.

-k the SIGKILL signal is sent to each process. Since this option spawns kills for each process, the kill messages may not show up immediately [see kill(2)].

If more than one group of files are specified, the options may be respecified for each additional group of files. A lone dash cancels the options currently in force.

The process IDs are printed as a single line on the standard output, separated by spaces and terminated with a single new line. All other output is written on standard error.

Any user with permission to read /dev/kmem and /dev/mem can use fuser. Only the super-user can terminate another user's process

FILES

/stand/unix  for system namelist
/dev/kmem    for system image
/dev/mem     also for system image

NOTE

If an RFS resource from a pre System V Release 4 server is mounted, fuser can only report on use of the whole file system, not on individual files within it. Because fuser works with a snapshot of the system image, it may miss processes that begin using a file while fuser is running. Also, processes reported as using a file may have stopped using it while fuser was running. These factors should discourage the use of the -k option.

SEE ALSO

mount(1M).
ps(1) in the User's Reference Manual.
kill(2), signal(2) in the Programmer's Reference Manual.