How to interpret this output of lsof command

lsof

root@host [/home2]# lsof /home2
COMMAND     PID     USER   FD   TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF     NODE NAME
php        3182 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32858196 /home2/ctxmortg/public_html/hello
php        3182 ctxmortg    3r   REG   8,17    46404 55781766 /home2/ctxmortg/public_html/hello/cache/subprimemortgagemorgage.com/cache-zch-8284-cache.txt
php        3185 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32858196 /home2/ctxmortg/public_html/hello
php        3185 ctxmortg    3r   REG   8,17     4185 35962154 /home2/ctxmortg/public_html/hello/cache/curl/http%3A%2F%2Fimage.yahoo.cn%2Fs%3Fq%3DNudity%26c%3D0%26s%3D%26page%3D277
php        3187 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32858196 /home2/ctxmortg/public_html/hello
php        3187 ctxmortg    3r   REG   8,17    54640 69699731 /home2/ctxmortg/public_html/hello/cache/newdatingfriends.com/cache-zch-1545-cache.txt
php        3188 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32858196 /home2/ctxmortg/public_html/hello
php        3188 ctxmortg    3r   REG   8,17    54640 21557063 /home2/ctxmortg/public_html/hello/cache/customersdeals.com/cache-zch-5715-cache.txt
php        3189 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32858196 /home2/ctxmortg/public_html/hello
php        3189 ctxmortg    3r   REG   8,17     4185 36028071 /home2/ctxmortg/public_html/hello/cache/curl/http%3A%2F%2Fimage.yahoo.cn%2Fs%3Fq%3DVideos%26c%3D0%26s%3D%26page%3D329
php        3200 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32858196 /home2/ctxmortg/public_html/hello
php        3200 ctxmortg    3r   REG   8,17    21036  9155614 /home2/ctxmortg/public_html/hello/cache/indorealestates.com/cache-zch-8562-cache.txt
lsof       3201     root  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096        2 /home2
lsof       3202     root  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096        2 /home2
webalizer 32342 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32890953 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com
webalizer 32342 ctxmortg    5uW  REG   8,17    12288 32890954 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com/dns_cache.db
webalizer 32360 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32890953 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com
webalizer 32360 ctxmortg    5u   REG   8,17    12288 32890954 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com/dns_cache.db
webalizer 32361 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32890953 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com
webalizer 32361 ctxmortg    5u   REG   8,17    12288 32890954 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com/dns_cache.db
webalizer 32362 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32890953 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com
webalizer 32362 ctxmortg    5u   REG   8,17    12288 32890954 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com/dns_cache.db
webalizer 32363 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32890953 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com
webalizer 32363 ctxmortg    5u   REG   8,17    12288 32890954 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com/dns_cache.db
webalizer 32364 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32890953 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com
webalizer 32364 ctxmortg    5u   REG   8,17    12288 32890954 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com/dns_cache.db
webalizer 32365 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32890953 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com
webalizer 32365 ctxmortg    5u   REG   8,17    12288 32890954 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com/dns_cache.db
webalizer 32366 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32890953 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com
webalizer 32366 ctxmortg    5u   REG   8,17    12288 32890954 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com/dns_cache.db
webalizer 32367 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32890953 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com
webalizer 32367 ctxmortg    5u   REG   8,17    12288 32890954 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com/dns_cache.db
webalizer 32368 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32890953 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com
webalizer 32368 ctxmortg    5u   REG   8,17    12288 32890954 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com/dns_cache.db
webalizer 32369 ctxmortg  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096 32890953 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com
webalizer 32369 ctxmortg    5u   REG   8,17    12288 32890954 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com/dns_cache.db
bash      32409     root  cwd    DIR   8,17     4096        2 /home2

I want to umount a drive but cannot.

So, what does cwd, 3r dir, and reg mean anyway?

Best Answer

COMMAND     PID     USER   FD   TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF     NODE NAME
webalizer 32342 ctxmortg    5uW  REG   8,17    12288 32890954 /home2/ctxmortg/tmp/webalizer/eyebestdatedotcomauph.ctxmortgagemortgagerefi.com/dns_cache.db

FD - File Descriptor

If you are looking for file being written, look for following flag

# - The number in front of flag(s) is the file descriptor number of used by the process to associated with the file
u - File open with Read and Write permission
r - File open with Read permission
w - File open with Write permission
W - File open with Write permission and with Write Lock on entire file
mem - Memory mapped file, usually for share library

So 3r means webalizer has a descriptor number 3 associated with ...dns_cache.db, with read permission.

TYPE - File Type

In Linux, almost everything are files, but with different type.

REG - REGgular file, file that show up in directory
DIR - Directory

NODE

inode number in filesystem

You can find complete details in the man page.

Related Solutions

Separate lsof output by column

I think awk is good for this because it splits fields for you:

lsof | awk '$8 == "TCP" { print $2 }'

If field 8 is "TCP", then print field 2.

Python – Custom lsof output

lsof has a "post-processable" output format with the -F option (see the OUTPUT FOR OTHER PROGRAMS section in the manual).

lsof -nPMp "$pid" -Fn | sed '
  \|^n/|!d
  s/ type=STREAM$//; t end
  s/ type=DGRAM$//; t end
  s/ type=SEQPACKET$//
  : end
  s|^n||'

Will list open files that resolve to a path on the file system.

-nPM disables some of the processing that lsof does by default and which we don't care for here like resolving IP adresses, port or rpc names.
-p "$pid", specify the process whose open files to list
-Fn: by field output. Ask for the name part.
| sed post process with sed to select only the part we're interested in:
\|^n/|!d: skip anything that doesn't start with n/
s/ type=...$/;t end: remove those strings at the end of the line and jump to the end label if successful.
: end: the end label.
s|^n||: remove the leading n character that lsof inserts to identify the field being output.

However note that non-printable characters in file names are encoded (like \n for newline, ^[ for ESC...) in an ambiguous way (as in ^[ could mean either ^[ and ESC).

Also, for deleted files, on Linux at least, you'll still get a file path but with (deleted) appended. Again, no way to discriminate between a deleted file and a file whose name ends in (deleted). Looking at the link count will not necessarily help as the deleted file could be linked elsewhere.

See also the removing of type=* which we do for Unix domain sockets that may have actually occurred in the file name.

What that means is that though it will work in most cases, you can't post-process that output reliably in the general case.

Not to mention that lsof itself may fail to parse the information returned by the kernel correctly, or that the kernel may fail to provide that information in a reliably parseable format