SA(8) SA(8)
1997 August 19
NAME
sa - summarizes accounting information
SYNOPSIS
sa [ -a | --list-all-names ]
[ -b | --sort-sys-user-div-calls ]
[ -c | --percentages ] [ -d | --sort-avio ]
[ -D | --sort-tio ] [ -f | --not-interactive ]
[ -i | --dont-read-summary-file ]
[ -j | --print-seconds ] [ -k | --sort-cpu-avmem ]
[ -K | --sort-ksec ] [ -l | --separate-times ]
[ -m | --user-summary ] [ -n | --sort-num-calls ]
[ -p | --show-paging ] [ -P | --show-paging-avg ]
[ -r | --reverse-sort ] [ -s | --merge ]
[ -t | --print-ratio ] [ -u | --print-users ]
[ -v num | --threshold num ] [ --sort-real-time ]
[ --debug ] [ -V | --version ] [ -h | --help ]
[ --other-usracct-file filename ] [ --ahz hz ]
[ --other-savacct-file filename ]
[ [ --other-acct-file ] filename ]
DESCRIPTION
sa summarizes information about previously executed commands as
recorded in the acct file. In addition, it condenses this data into a
summary file named savacct which contains the number of times the
command was called and the system resources used. The information can
also be summarized on a per-user basis; sa will save this information
into a file named usracct. If no arguments are specified, sa will
print information about all of the commands in the acct file. If
called with a file name as the last argument, sa will use that file
instead of the system's default acct file. By default, sa will sort
the output by sum of user and system time. If command names have
unprintable characters, or are only called once, sa will sort them
into a group called `***other'. If more than one sorting option is
specified, the list will be sorted by the one specified last on the
command line. The output fields are labeled as follows:
cpu sum of system and user time in cpu seconds
re "real time" in cpu seconds
k cpu-time averaged core usage, in 1k units
avio average number of I/O operations per execution
tio total number of I/O operations
k*sec
cpu storage integral (kilo-core seconds)
- 1 - Formatted: October 26, 2025
SA(8) SA(8)
1997 August 19
u user cpu time in cpu seconds
s system time in cpu seconds Note that these column titles do not
appear in the first row of the table, but after each numeric
entry (as units of measurement) in every row. For example, you
might see `79.29re', meaning 79.29 cpu seconds of "real time".
An asterisk will appear after the name of commands that forked
but didn't call exec. GNU sa takes care to implement a number of
features not found in other versions. For example, most versions
of sa don't pay attention to flags like `--print-seconds' and
`--sort-num-calls' when printing out commands when combined with
the `--user-summary' or `--print-users' flags. GNU sa pays
attention to these flags if they are applicable. Also, MIPS' sa
stores the average memory use as a short rather than a double,
resulting in some round-off errors. GNU sa uses double the whole
way through.
OPTIONS
The availability of these program options depends on your operating
system. In specific, the members that appear in the struct acct of
your system's process accounting header file (usually acct.h )
determine which flags will be present. For example, if your system's
struct acct doesn't have the `ac_mem' field, the installed version of
sa will not support the `--sort-cpu-avmem', `--sort-ksec', `-k', or
`-K' options. In short, all of these flags may not be available on
your machine.
-a, --list-all-names
Force sa not to sort those command names with unprintable
characters and those used only once into the ***other group.
-b, --sort-sys-user-div-calls
Sort the output by the sum of user and system time divided by the
number of calls.
-c, --percentages
Print percentages of total time for the command's user, system,
and real time values.
-d, --sort-avio
Sort the output by the average number of disk I/O operations.
-D, --sort-tio
Print and sort the output by the total number of disk I/O
operations.
-f, --not-interactive
When using the `--threshold' option, assume that all answers to
interactive queries will be affirmative.
-i, --dont-read-summary-file
Don't read the information in the system's default savacct file.
-j, --print-seconds
Instead of printing total minutes for each category, print
seconds per call.
-k, --sort-cpu-avmem
Sort the output by cpu time average memory usage.
- 2 - Formatted: October 26, 2025
SA(8) SA(8)
1997 August 19
-K, --sort-ksec
Print and sort the output by the cpu-storage integral.
-l, --separate-times
Print separate columns for system and user time; usually the two
are added together and listed as `cpu'.
-m, --user-summary
Print the number of processes and number of CPU minutes on a
per-user basis.
-n, --sort-num-calls
Sort the output by the number of calls. This is the default
sorting method.
-p, --show-paging
Print the number of minor and major pagefaults and swaps.
-P, --show-paging-avg
Print the number of minor and major pagefaults and swaps divided
by the number of calls.
-r, --reverse-sort
Sort output items in reverse order.
-s, --merge
Merge the summarized accounting data into the summary files
savacct and usracct.
-t, --print-ratio
For each entry, print the ratio of real time to the sum of system
and user times. If the sum of system and user times is too small
to report--the sum is zero--`*ignore*' will appear in this field.
-u, --print-users
For each command in the accounting file, print the userid and
command name. After printing all entries, quit. *Note*: this
flag supersedes all others.
-v num --threshold num
Print commands which were executed num times or fewer and await a
reply from the terminal. If the response begins with `y', add
the command to the `**junk**' group.
--separate-forks
It really doesn't make any sense to me that the stock version of
sa separates statistics for a particular executable depending on
whether or not that command forked. Therefore, GNU sa lumps this
information together unless this option is specified.
--ahz hz
Use this flag to tell the program what AHZ should be (in hertz).
This option is useful if you are trying to view an acct file
created on another machine which has the same byte order and file
format as your current machine, but has a different value for
AHZ.
--debug
Print verbose internal information.
-V, --version
Print the version number of sa.
-h, --help
Prints the usage string and default locations of system files to
standard output and exits.
- 3 - Formatted: October 26, 2025
SA(8) SA(8)
1997 August 19
--sort-real-time
Sort the output by the "real time" field.
--other-usracct-file filename
Write summaries by user ID to filename rather than the system's
default usracct file.
--other-savacct-file filename
Write summaries by command name to filename rather than the
system's default SAVACCT file.
--other-file filename
Read from the file filename instead of the system's default ACCT
file.
FILES
acct The raw system wide process accounting file. See acct(5) (or
pacct(5)) for further details.
savacct
A summary of system process accounting sorted by command.
usracct
A summary of system process accounting sorted by user ID.
BUGS
There is not yet a wide experience base for comparing the output of
GNU sa with versions of sa in many other systems. The problem is that
the data files grow big in a short time and therefore require a lot of
disk space.
AUTHOR
The GNU accounting utilities were written by Noel Cragg
<noel@gnu.ai.mit.edu>. The man page was adapted from the accounting
texinfo page by Susan Kleinmann <sgk@sgk.tiac.net>.
SEE ALSO
acct(5), ac(8)
- 4 - Formatted: October 26, 2025
