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

# lastwords(1m)

print syscalls before exit. Uses DTrace.

## NAME

lastwords - print syscalls before exit. Uses DTrace.

## SYNOPSIS

**lastwords command**

## DESCRIPTION

This prints the last few system calls for processes matching the given name, when they exit. This makes use of a ring buffer so that the impact on the system is minimised.

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

## EXAMPLES

- Catch last few syscalls for dying netscape processes,

  \#  **lastwords netscape**

## FIELDS

- TIME

  time of syscall return, ns

- PID

  process ID

- EXEC

  process name (execname)

- SYSCALL

  system call

- RETURN

  return value for the system call

- ERR

  errno for the system call

## BASED ON

/usr/demo/dtrace/ring.d

## DOCUMENTATION

DTrace Guide "Buffers and Buffering" chapter (docs.sun.com)

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

lastwords will sample until a command with that name exits.

## SEE ALSO

dtruss(1M), dtrace(1M)