---
name: "pminfo"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "pcp"
version: "7.2.2-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pminfo"
---

# pminfo(1)

display information about performance metrics

## NAME

**pminfo** - display information about performance metrics

## SYNOPSIS

**pminfo** \[**-defFIlLmMstTvVxz1?**\] \[**-a** *archive*\] \[**-b** *batchsize*\] \[**-c** *dmfile*\] \[**--container** *name*\] \[**-D** *debug*\] \[**-h** *hostname*\] \[**-K** *spec*\] \[**-**\[**n**\|**N**\] *pmnsfile*\] \[**-O** *time*\] \[**-r** *dmname*=*expr*\] \[**-Z** *timezone*\] \[*metricname* \| *pmid* \| *indom*\]...

## DESCRIPTION

**pminfo** displays various types of information about performance metrics available through the facilities of the Performance Co-Pilot (PCP).

The metrics of interest are named in the *metricname* arguments. If *metricname* is a non-leaf node in the PMNS, then **pminfo** will recursively descend the PMNS and report on all leaf nodes. If no *metricname* argument is given, the root of the PMNS is used.

If the *metricname* argument is in numeric dotted notation, it is interpreted as either a 3-dotted *pmid* (metric identifier - domain, cluster, item numbers) or a 2-dotted *indom* (instance domain identifier - domain, serial number). In the *pmid* case, a reverse PMID-to-name lookup is performed, and in the *indom* case, the instance domain is reported directly. This latter mode can be used to report the instance domain \`\`one line'' and long form help text summaries.

Unless directed to another host by the **-h** option, by default **pminfo** will contact the Performance Metrics Collector Daemon (PMCD) on the local host. The connection to a PMCD is only required if **pminfo** requires distributed PMNS information, and/or meta-data describing metrics, and/or metric values, and/or help text.

The **-a** option causes **pminfo** to use the specified set of archives rather than connecting to a PMCD.

The **-L** option causes **pminfo** to use a local context to collect metrics from PMDAs on the local host without PMCD. Only some metrics are available in this mode.

The **-a, -h** and **-L** options are mutually exclusive.

## OPTIONS

The available command line options are:

- **-a** *archive*, **--archive**=*archive*

  Performance metric values are retrieved from the set of Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) archive files identified by the *archive* argument, which is a comma-separated list of names, each of which may be the base name of an archive or the name of a directory containing one or more archives.

- **-b**, **--batch**

  This option may be used to define the maximum number of metrics to be fetched in a single request for the **-f** and **-v** options. The default value for *batchsize* is 128.

- **-c** *dmfile*, **--derived**=*dmfile*

  The *dmfile* argument specifies a file that contains derived metric definitions in the format described for [**pmLoadDerivedConfig**(3)](/pmLoadDerivedConfig/3.md). The **-c** option provides a way to load global derived metric definitions that is an alternative to the more generic use of the **PCP\_DERIVED\_CONFIG** environment variable as described in [**PCPIntro**(1)](/PCPIntro/1.md). Using the **-c** option and the **PCP\_DERIVED\_CONFIG** environment variable to specify the **same** configuration is a bad idea, so choose one or the other method. See also the **-r** option below.

- **--container**=*container*

  Specify an individual *container* to be queried.

- **-d**, **--desc**

  Metric descriptions detailing the PMID, data type, data semantics, units, scale and associated instance domain.

- **-1**, **--desc-oneline**

  Same as **-d** except the metric descriptions are formatted one line per metric with tab (\\t) separated fields (without field name text). This format is suitable for scripts consuming the output from **pminfo**.

- **-e**, **--metadata-errors**

  Same as **-v** but do not report metrics that return no values, so any metrics reported are ones that have either persistent errors or inconsistent metadata.

- **-f**, **--fetch**

  Fetch and print values for all instances. When fetching from a set of archives, only those instances present in the first archive record for a metric will be displayed; see also the **-O** option, else use [**pmlogdump**(1)](/pmlogdump/1.md) which may be a better tool for examining archives.

- **-F**, **--fetchall**

  Same as **-f** but try harder to fetch instances for metrics which have non-enumerable instance domains (e.g. metrics in the \`\`proc'' subtree of the default PMNS on some platforms).

- **-h** *host*, **--host**=*host*

  Fetch performance metrics from [**pmcd**(1)](/pmcd/1.md) on *host*, rather than from the default localhost.

- **-I**, **--fullindom**

  Print the InDom in verbose mode.

- **-K** *spec*, **--spec-local**=*spec*

  When using the **-L** option to fetch metrics from a local context, this option controls the DSO PMDAs that should be made accessible. The *spec* argument conforms to the syntax described in [**pmSpecLocalPMDA**(3)](/pmSpecLocalPMDA/3.md). More than one **-K** option may be used.

- **-l**, **--labels**

  Print label sets associated with metrics and instances. Labels are optional metric metadata described in detail in [**pmLookupLabels**(3)](/pmLookupLabels/3.md).

- **-L**, **--local-PMDA**

  Use a local context to collect metrics from DSO PMDAs on the local host without PMCD. See also **-K**.

- **-m**, **--pmid**

  Print the PMID in terse mode.

- **-M**, **--fullpmid**

  Print the PMID in verbose mode.

- **-n** *pmnsfile*, **--namespace**=*pmnsfile*

  Normally **pminfo** operates on the distributed Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS), however if the **-n** option is specified an alternative local PMNS is loaded from the file *pmnsfile*.

- **-N** *pmnsfile*, **--uniqnames**=*pmnsfile*

  The **-N** option supports the same function as **-n**, except for the handling of duplicate names for the same Performance Metric Identifier (PMID) in *pmnsfile* - duplicate names are allowed with **-n** but they are not allowed with **-N**.

- **-O** *time*, **--origin**=*time*

  When used in conjunction with an archive source of metrics and the options **-f/**, the *time* argument defines a time origin at which the metrics should be fetched from the set of archives. Refer to [**PCPIntro**(1)](/PCPIntro/1.md) for a complete description of this option, and the syntax for the *time* argument.

- **-r** *dmname*=*expr*, **--register**=*dmname*=*expr*

  Register a per-context derived metric using [**pmAddDerivedMetric**(3)](/pmAddDerivedMetric/3.md). *dmname* is the name of the new derived metric, and *expr* is the expression for the derived metric, following the syntax described in [**pmRegisterDerived**(3)](/pmRegisterDerived/3.md). Multiple **-r** options are allowed. See also the **-c** option above.

- **-s**, **--series**

  Print time series identifiers associated with metrics, instances and sources. These unique identifiers are calculated from intrinsic (non-optional) labels and other metric metadata associated with each PMAPI context (sources), metrics and instances. Archive, local context or [**pmcd**(1)](/pmcd/1.md) connections for the same host all produce the same source identifier. See also [**pmLookupLabels**(3)](/pmLookupLabels/3.md) and the **-l** option.

- **-t**, **--oneline**

  Print the \`\`one line'' help summary, if available.

- **-T**, **--helptext**

  Print the help text, if available.

- **-v**, **--verify**

  Verify mode in which descriptions and values are retrieved, but only error conditions are reported. This option silently disables any output from the options **-f**/**--fetch**, **-l**/**--labels**, **-I**/**--fullindom**, **-M**/**--fullpmid**, **-m**/**--pmid**, **-t**/**--oneline** and **-T**/**--helptext**.

- **-V**, **--version**

  Display version number and exit.

- **-x**, **--events**

  Like the **-f**/**--fetch** option, but with the additional functionality that if a value is processed that is of type PM\_TYPE\_EVENT or PM\_TYPE\_HIGHRES\_EVENT, then the event records will be unpacked and the details of each event record reported.

- **-z**, **--hostzone**

  Change the reporting timezone to the local timezone at the host that is the source of the performance metrics, as identified via either the **-h** or **-a** options.

- **-Z** *timezone*, **--timezone**=*timezone*

  By default, **pminfo** reports the time of day according to the local timezone on the system where **pminfo** is run. The **-Z** option changes the timezone to *timezone* in the format of the environment variable TZ as described in [**environ**(7)](/environ/7.md).

- **-?**, **--help**

  Display usage message and exit.

## FILES

- *$PCP\_VAR\_DIR/pmns/\**

  default local PMNS specification files

## PCP ENVIRONMENT

Environment variables with the prefix **PCP\_** are used to parameterize the file and directory names used by PCP. On each installation, the file */etc/pcp.conf* contains the local values for these variables. The **$PCP\_CONF** variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration file, as described in [**pcp.conf**(5)](/pcp.conf/5.md).

For environment variables affecting PCP tools, see [**pmGetOptions**(3)](/pmGetOptions/3.md).

## DEBUGGING OPTIONS

The **-D** or **--debug** option enables the output of additional diagnostics on *stderr* to help triage problems, although the information is sometimes cryptic and primarily intended to provide guidance for developers rather than for end-users. *debug* is a comma separated list of debugging options; use [**pmdbg**(1)](/pmdbg/1.md) with the **-l** option to obtain a list of the available debugging options and their meaning.

Debugging options specific to **pminfo** are as follows:

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Option | Description |
| appl4 | report batch downsizing if *batchsize* would exceed maximum PDU size |
| appl5 | dump PDU stats at end if context is a host |

## SEE ALSO

[**PCPIntro**(1)](/PCPIntro/1.md), [**pmcd**(1)](/pmcd/1.md), [**pmchart**(1)](/pmchart/1.md), [**pmlogdump**(1)](/pmlogdump/1.md), [**pmprobe**(1)](/pmprobe/1.md), [**pmrep**(1)](/pmrep/1.md), [**pmval**(1)](/pmval/1.md), [**PMAPI**(3)](/PMAPI/3.md), [**pmAddDerivedMetric**(3)](/pmAddDerivedMetric/3.md), [**pmGetOptions**(3)](/pmGetOptions/3.md), [**pmLoadDerivedConfig**(3)](/pmLoadDerivedConfig/3.md), [**pmLookupLabels**(3)](/pmLookupLabels/3.md), [**pmRegisterDerived**(3)](/pmRegisterDerived/3.md), [**pmSpecLocalPMDA**(3)](/pmSpecLocalPMDA/3.md), [**PMNS**(5)](/PMNS/5.md), [**pcp.conf**(5)](/pcp.conf/5.md) and [**pcp.env**(5)](/pcp.env/5.md).