strace linux command

strace

strace [options] command [arguments]

Trace the system calls and signals for command and arguments. strace shows you how data is passed between the program and the system kernel. With no options, strace prints a line to stderr for each system call. It shows the call name, arguments given, the return value, and any error messages generated. A signal is printed with both its signal symbol and a descriptive string.

Options

-a n

Align the return values in column n.

-c

Count all calls and signals and create a summary report when the program has ended.

-d

Debug mode. Print debugging information for strace on stderr.

-e keyword[=[!]values

Pass an expression to strace to limit the types of calls or signals that are traced or change how they are displayed. The values for these expressions can be given as a comma-separated list. Preceding the list with an exclamation mark (!) negates the list. The special values of all and none are valid, as are the values listed with the following keywords.

abbrev=names

Abbreviate output from large structures for system calls listed in names.

read=descriptors

Print all data read from the given file descriptors.

signal=symbols

Trace the listed signal symbols (for example, signal=SIGIO,SIGHUP).

trace=values

Trace the listed values. values may be a list of system call names or one of the following sets of system calls:

verbose=names

Unabbreviate structures for the given system call names. Default is none.

write=descriptors

Print all data written to the given file descriptors.

-f

Trace forked processes.

-ff

Write system calls for forked processes to separate files named filename.pid when using the -o option.

-h

Print help and exit.

-i

Print instruction pointer with each system call.

-o filename

Write output to filename instead of stderr. If filename starts with the pipe symbol |, treat the rest of the name as a command to which output should be piped.

-O n

Override strace's built-in timing estimates, and just subtract n microseconds from the timing of each system call to adjust for the time it takes to measure thestentry> call.

-p pid

Attach to the given process ID and begin tracking. strace can track more than one process if more than one option -p is given. Type Ctrl-c to end the trace.

-q

Quiet mode. Suppress attach and detach messages from strace.

-r

Relative timestamp. Print time in microseconds between system calls.

-s n

Print only the first n characters of a string. Default value is 32.

-S value

Sort output of -c option by the given value. value may be calls, name, time, or nothing. By default it is sorted by time.

-T

Print time spent in each system call.

-t

Print time of day on each line of output.

-tt

Print time of day with microseconds on each line of output.

-ttt

Print timestamp on each line as number of seconds since the Epoch.

-u username

Run command as username. Needed when tracing setuid and setgid programs.

-V

Print version and exit.

-v

Verbose. Do not abbreviate structure information.

-x

Print all non-ASCII strings in hexadecimal.

-xx

Print all strings in hexadecimal.