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When doing a ps aux command, I see some process listed as Ss, Ssl and Sl.

What do these mean?

root     24653  0.0  0.0   2256     8 ?        Ss   Apr12   0:00 /bin/bash -c /usr/bin/python /var/python/report_watchman.py 
root     24654  0.0  0.0  74412    88 ?        Sl   Apr12   0:01 /usr/bin/python /var/python/report_watchman.py
root     21976  0.0  0.0   2256     8 ?        Ss   Apr14   0:00 /bin/bash -c /usr/bin/python /var/python/report_watchman.py 
root     21977  0.0  0.0  73628    88 ?        Sl   Apr14   0:01 /usr/bin/python /var/python/report_watchman.py
HopelessN00b
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JiminyCricket
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1 Answers1

63

From the ps manpage:

   S    Interruptible sleep (waiting for an event to complete)

  For BSD formats and when the stat keyword is used, additional
  characters may be displayed:
  s    is a session leader
  l    is multi-threaded (using CLONE_THREAD, like NPTL pthreads do)
diviquery
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ire_and_curses
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    When in doubt, `man`! – squircle Apr 30 '10 at 19:19
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    A 10 years old question, but since it is the first google result for this question, I am updating the URL link for for the ps manpage: https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?ps – Prado Sep 14 '20 at 16:46