---
name: "execsnoop"
section: "1m"
platform: "macos"
package: "dtrace"
version: "413"
release: "macOS 26.5"
platforms: ["macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/execsnoop"
---

# execsnoop(1m)

snoop new process execution. Uses DTrace.

## NAME

execsnoop - snoop new process execution. Uses DTrace.

## SYNOPSIS

**execsnoop** \[-a\|-A\|-ejhsvZ\] \[-c command\]

## DESCRIPTION

execsnoop prints details of new processes as they are executed. Details such as UID, PID and argument listing are printed out.

This program is very useful to examine short lived processes that would not normally appear in a prstat or "ps -ef" listing. Sometimes  applications will run hundreds of short lived processes in their  normal startup cycle, a behaviour that is easily monitored with execsnoop.

Since this uses DTrace, only users with root privileges can run this command.

## OPTIONS

- \-a

  print all data

- \-A

  dump all data, space delimited

- \-e

  safe output, parseable. This prevents the ARGS field containing "\\n"s, to assist postprocessing.

- \-j

  print project ID

- \-s

  print start time, us

- \-v

  print start time, string

- \-Z

  print zonename

- \-c command

  command name to snoop

## EXAMPLES

- Default output, print processes as they are executed,

  \#  **execsnoop**

- Print human readable timestamps,

  \#  **execsnoop** -v

- Print zonename,

  \# **execsnoop** -Z

- Snoop this command only,

  \# **execsnoop** -c ls

## FIELDS

- UID

  User ID

- PID

  Process ID

- PPID

  Parent Process ID

- COMM

  command name for the process

- ARGS

  argument listing for the process

- ZONE

  zonename

- PROJ

  project ID

- TIME

  timestamp for the exec event, us

- STRTIME

  timestamp for the exec event, string

## DOCUMENTATION

See the DTraceToolkit for further documentation under the  Docs directory. The DTraceToolkit docs may include full worked examples with verbose descriptions explaining the output.

## EXIT

execsnoop will run forever until Ctrl-C is hit.

## AUTHOR

Brendan Gregg \[Sydney, Australia\]

## SEE ALSO

dtrace(1M), [truss(1)](/truss/1.md)