How do I exit the systemctl status command's output?

Question

How does one go about getting the command line prompt back after using the systemctl status command? The command appears to succeed as it displays the status information of the requested service. However, the terminal appears to lock up after using the command.

You can use the `--no-pager` option - see related [How to avoid horizontal scrolling in “systemctl status”?](https://askubuntu.com/questions/747156/how-to-avoid-horizontal-scrolling-in-systemctl-status) — steeldriver, Oct 01 '17 at 13:36
@DavidFoerster as I noted in the other q, that doesn't actually use a pager, only the appearance of one. — muru, Oct 02 '17 at 09:50

score 78 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 19 '18 at 12:30

78

If you mean

systemctl status

at the end it shows this:

      ├─systemd-journald.service
         │ └─318 /lib/systemd/systemd-journald
         ├─fwupd.service
         │ └─1703 /usr/lib/fwupd/fwupd
         ├─systemd-networkd.service
         │ └─395 /lib/systemd/systemd-networkd
         └─cups-browsed.service
           └─2918 /usr/sbin/cups-browsed
lines 172-194/194 (END)

... then press a q for quit.

As steeldriver noted in comments: use --no-pager if you do not want this behaviour see details.

systemctl status --no-pager

edited Jun 19 '18 at 12:30

Nam G VU

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answered Oct 01 '17 at 13:18

Rinzwind

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I wonder why would they not show this by default like nano does. – mathakoot Jul 09 '18 at 03:36
Sweet. I used this in a script to give feedback during an install and without your fix it forces you to crtl C out of it. Thanks! – F1Linux Jun 19 '19 at 13:14
8

`--no-pager` also works great for noninteractive scripts – rubo77 Jan 13 '20 at 18:16
Can we also do `systemctl status package | cat`? – alper Nov 26 '21 at 13:34

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 01 '17 at 14:24

11

Check what systemctl is running in another terminal:

$ pstree -pa $(pgrep systemctl)
systemctl,2100 status
  └─less,2101

And from man less:

q or Q or :q or :Q or ZZ
  Exits less.

answered Oct 01 '17 at 14:24

muru

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score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 02 '17 at 06:09

5

systemctl status | cat does the job as well. You're just redirecting the output of systemctl status to cat which in turn dumps everything on the console without any pagination

answered Oct 02 '17 at 06:09

blueren

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Unfortunately this way the `systemctl` exit status is lost (unless `set -o pipefail`). – Juuso Ohtonen Sep 11 '19 at 10:14

How do I exit the systemctl status command's output?

3 Answers3

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